All's Fair in Love and War
by Averial Flames
Summary: Gaara and his siblings arrive to a new school, Konoha High. They find love, war, and bipolar-ness in this new school! GaaOc, ShikaTema, KankSaku, AFTER CH50: SasuNaru, NejiTen.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

Gaara sighed. This was his new school, Konoha High. It didn't seem any different from his old school, Suna High.

His siblings, Temari and Kankuro, didn't seem too excited either.

"This looks a lot like Suna High! Except for the leaf decorations on the wall. And it looks a lot older than Suna…" Kankuro said.

"Shut it, Kankuro," Temari said, with affection. "What a school looks like doesn't matter at all. Besides, it's not our fault we have to come here; it's dad who got a new job."

Kankuro looked to Gaara for support in his argument. As usual, Gaara said nothing. He just walked straight into the school.

"Umm…Gaara? We have to get our schedules first," Temari pointed to what looked like an attendance window.

Pretending he knew, Gaara automatically changed his path and walked up to the window. Temari and Kankuro looked at each other, then followed.

"Hi, we're new here, can we have our schedules?" Temari asked sweetly to the secretary. On the window, there was a label saying, Shizune, secretary.

"Of course. Are you the new students coming from Suna High?" Shizune replied as she printed out the three siblings' schedules.

Temari nodded, took the schedules, and thanked her. She then passed them out to Gaara and Kankuro.

(This is what Gaara's schedule looks like)

Period 1 -Art

Period 2 -PE

Period 3 -English

Period 4 -History

Period 5 -Geomatry Adv.

Period 6 -Physics

Period 7 -Chemistry

(I have no clue what a high school schedule looks like, I'm in middle school)

Gaara looked over his schedule, once, twice, three times, and it didn't change. _ART?_ he thought, _Why do I have ART?_

"Hey, look at that!" Kankuro looked at Gaara's schedule over his shoulder. "Art! Who would've thought Gaara would get art!"

Shizune glanced up. "I'm sorry, that was the only other class avalible."

Gaara just glared at her.

"School map?" he growled.

Shizune handed all three of them a map of the whole school. "If you get lost, just come over here and I'll help you guys out."

Gaara was determined for that not to happen.

**How's that? My first fanfic! Please give me good reviews! Thank you :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

Gaara POV

_Art room, art room...where the heck is it!_

Gaara looked around the school, then at the map, and had a feeling that he was walking around in circles. Why, oh why did he say that he could find it on his own and ditch his siblings?

Lost in his train of thoughts, Gaara bumped into someone.

"Hm?" the victim turned around.

Looking up, Gaara saw a blond haired, blue eyed, and orange jumpsuit wearing kid.

"Hey, what's up!" the kid smiled.

Gaara was confused. Who is he? Isn't he angry that I bumped into him?

Gaara turned and ran, ignoring the outbursts from the blond. He felt himself blushing, as he normally did when he came into contact with anyone, excluding his siblings.

Suddenly, the bell rang for class, causing Gaara to freeze in his tracks.

_Grrr..._Gaara thought, _I'm getting nowhere!_

Looking around he noticed some people carrying clay statue looking stuff. _Maybe they're heading towards the artroom..._Gaara thought. _I'll just ask where the artroom is...  
_

Silently, Gaara looked around for someone he knew, which was no one, so he grabbed the closest person near him and said, "Hey, can you tell me where the artroom is?"

The startled person answered, "Hn. Who are you?"

Gaara glared at the black haired guy. He sure had an attitude.

"Who cares, just do me a favor and tell me. PLEASE," Gaara put an emphasiz on please.

The person replied by pointing in a room under a staircase. "I'm Sasuke, you owe me."

Without thanking him, Gaara dashed towards the staircase and arrived just on time.

As he stepped into the classroom, he looked for the teacher, then seeing her in the back with a couple of students.

"Miss," he said as he approached her.

"Hm? Oh, you must be Gaara, our new student," the art teacher replied. "I'm Ms. Kurenai, your art teacher." She smiled. Gaara just stared back, and asked her where his seat is.

She looked around, and finally pointed to a seat near the back of the room.

"You can sit next to Sazuko, the green haired girl."

Gaara squeezed past a few people, and finally made his way to his seat.

Sazuko, apperently, didn't care about the fact that someone just appeared next to her.

Gaara looked at his new tablemates, and saw Sasuke, and the blond kid he bumped into.

_Great..._

**Second chapter :) Kinda hard to understand how to use this thing...but please review! If I get enough reviews, I'll keep this up. Otherwise I probably won't...**_  
_


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Or any of its characters. I wish I owned Gaara... :3  
**

Temari POV

Temari looked up from her desk in English class. What a weird teacher. Mr. Kakashi never really cared about how the students acted. There was Shikamaru what's-his-face and a fat kid on her sides. They were chatting around her, occasionally pausing to pretend to listen and take notes on the lecture on correct grammar.

The fifth time that happened, Temari bunched her fingers into a fist. _Shut it, loudmouths! I am actually trying to pay attention, you know!_

On the eighth time, she couldn't take it anymore. She balled her fists, and punched both of them in the stomachs. All the little silent conversations in the class stopped. Everyone stopped talking including Mr. Kakashi.

_Oh, no, I'm gonna get a detention, aren't I?_ Temari thought, suddenly worried.

"Thank you, Temari. I was just going to do that myself," Mr. Kakashi smiled. "I had a feeling that they wouldn't stop talking unless someone put a stop to it."

Temari stared at her English teacher, shocked. _Are we allowed to punch people in Konoha High?_

"But please, next time hit softer, they might end up with a broken rib and I would be held responsible." Mr. Kakashi continued smiling.

Shikamaru and Choji (ah! so that's his name!) groaned as they got up from the floor.

_She's scarier than my mom! _thinks Shikamaru (of course, Temari doesn't know that).

Gaara POV

_Stupid clay..._Gaara thought.

He tried molding the blob of clay that was his, but without much success. He didn't understand how Sazuko made a statue out of it, or how the blond made a bowl of ramen. All Gaara managed to make was a mountain that was rounded at the top.

_At least Sasuke was having problems as well_, Gaara thought, looking on the bright side. Sasuke was making a boat that didn't look like a boat.

Suddenly, Sazuko stood up and put her statue along the edge of the classroom.

"Good job, Sazuko," Ms. Kurenai commentted. "You used very precise techniques for this, haven't you?"

Sazuko just nodded, and went back to her seat. She took out a note pad and started doodling in it.

Gaara sighed, and wished, not for the first time, that he wasn't in art.

**Wow...three chapters in a day...Well, they're really short chapters so I guess it only counts as one? one and a half? Please review, readers!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. If I did, the story would be totally different...**

**BTW sorry if you guys read chapter 4 that sounded like chapter 2...i just copied chapter two to start a new chapter, cause i'm not sure how to make a new chapter, so sorry for the confusion, readers :)  
**

Gaara POV

Finally. The mountain actually looked like one!

Gaara stood up, and walked towards the table where everyone put their finished works of art. As soon as he put it down, he walked back towards his seat.

Everyone at his table, of course, ignored him.

After about five more minutes of class, a fight broke out between Sasuke and Naruto. Ms. Kurenai just rolled her eyes as if it was normal.

Instantly, the whole class dropped what they were doing and joined sides. Everyone except for Gaara and Sazuko.

"Hey, you, red head!" Sasuke yelled, pointing at Gaara. "Choose a side!" He gave Gaara a look reminding him that he still owed him when he told him where the art building was.

Gaara looked over to Sazuko, who apperently didn't care about the fight.

"Well?" Sasuke growled. If Gaara joined Sasuke's side, the blond, Naruto, would hate him for life. And vice versa.

"What about Sazuko? Aren't you going to ask her to join a side?" Gaara attempted to delay for time.

"Hm? Her? She never talks, so we leave her alone," Naruto answered.

"Give me some time to think it over. I'll join in the next brawl," Gaara said.

Still looking unsatisfied, Sasuke looked from Gaara to Naruto, and decided that right now, putting Naruto in his place was more important.

Gaara sighed. This place was rowdier than Suna, that's for sure.

"Nice," Gaara was startled to hear Sazuko talk to him. "No one's ever said that before."

Gaara gave Sazuko a questioning look. "I thought they said you didn't talk."

"Silly," she glared. "Of course I talk. I'm not mute you know." With that, she flipped to a random page in her note pad and started writing in it. Since Gaara had nothing to do, he just looked to see what she was writing. All he could make out was: "Idiot...thinks...mute" Suddenly, Gaara had a feeling that she was writing about what he said to her. He felt a wave of embarrassment, and he kept his eyes diverted from Sazuko.

**Fourth chapter :) Sorry about the confusion if you guys read the first chapter 4, it was actually chapter 2**

**Review Review Review people!  
**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Or any of its characters. **

**If someone can help me with how to make a new chapter without exporting previous chapters, please please tell me!**

**BTW, Melody Cadenza...thanks a lot :) and Chengkai, if you don't like it, then don't read it! sheesh. simple.**

Kankuro POV

_Who woulda thought that I'd sit next to chicks!_ Kankuro thought. Ino Yamanada was on his left, and Sakura Haruno on his right. If it weren't for Shino at his group, he would've liked to "mess around" a bit. But oh well, you can't have everything in life, right?

Gaara POV (Kankuro's was short, I'll try to make it longer next time!)

_Psh. Physical Education. What a joke._ Gaara thought. Playing soccer for 30 minutes was sooooo learning. So far, all he had learned was not to try to kick the ball. 'Cause when you do, you'll most likely fall on the wet grass.

His teammates didn't help either. Kiba, Neji, and Lee played like star athletes. Lee could kick the soccer ball super hard, Neji seemed as if he had eyes on the back of his head, and Kiba was super fast.

And himself? Well, he could barely pass the ball. Much less score.

Gaara sighed. Sitting next to a person who thinks he's an idiot was almost better than being humiliated here. Not for the first time, he wished that his dad hadn't gotten a job here. And what about Temari and Kankuro? Don't they wanna leave as well?

"Pass!" Lee yelled to Gaara. This jolted Gaara out of his thoughts. He turned towards the sound, and got hit right in the stomach.

Gaara doubled over in pain. Stupid soccer.

"Gaara! You okay?" Kiba came over, concerned. His answer was a glare.

Their coach, Mr. Guy, came over as well. "My youthful student! What has happened!"

Another glare.

"I'll be fine," Gaara growled. With that, he left towards the locker room. Lucky for him, the bell rang as soon as he left, so he didn't get caught.

**Yay, chapter 5. Please review, I need inspiration for the next chapters! The only way I'm getting this is when I have the same classes, or when I'm listening to a lecture.**

**I'm sorry that my chapters are a bit short, but, as I said before, I need to think about what to put! So please review review review!  
**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Or any of its characters. All I own is my OC and topic for this story :)**

**Oh Melody, this story does NOT concern my life at all, except for Gaara's schedule. Notice Temari's schedule-it's yours!  
**

Gaara POV

Gaara looked around for one of his siblings. He was not looking forward to spending 15 minutes of break standing like an idiot. He almost wished that he would find Sasuke and Naruto fighting or something. At least that meant that he could look, and be doing something.

Speak of the devil, there's Sasuke. With a group of friends. One of them had really really sharp teeth, the other was huge and was taller than everyone in that gang. The last member, a female, seemed to be looking around for something. Then she pointed at Gaara.

Gaara sighed. What did he do wrong now? Oh well, better act as if he did nothing and walk away calmly...

"Stop!" he heard someone shout. Turning around, Gaara saw that it was the pointy teethed kid that spoke.

"Yeah that helps a lot, Suigetsu," Sasuke said, glaring at the guy who just spoke. "As if he really would just stop."

"Yeah, Suigetsu! Sasuke is right," the female said.

"Shut up, Karin, everyone knows that you adore Sasuke and think that everything he says is right," Suigetsu said in a bored voice.

Ignoring their conversation, Gaara ran towards the grassy field behind the PE area.

Sasuke's gang gave pursuit, following Gaara without looking like it.

As soon as Gaara reached the field, he realized that he was stuck. There was that stupid fence that surrounded the school. If only he could climb over it...but then what? Run into the streets?

Oh well. Too late anyways. Sasuke's gang had caught up to him.

Gaara sighed. He didn't want to start a fight in the middle of the school, but...

"Hey, red head. So...have you decided whose side to join?" Sasuke paused for dramatic effect. "Cause if you didn't, I'll make you join mine." With that, Sasuke grinned evilly.

Suigetsu pulled out a Swiss army knife, and held it under Gaara's chin. "Heh...join...or die." Suigetsu pressed the blade, hard, into Gaara's flesh.

Gaara screamed out in pain.

**Please review, I'll try to get chapter 7 out asap. For those of you wondering whether Gaara gets saved or whatsoever...review ;)  
**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Nor Gaara, althought I could make him very very close to death. Of course, I'm not gonna kill him...**3**  
**

**Thank you to my helpful reviewers, Echo Uchiha and Melody Cadenza. This chapter is dedicated to Melody, since she apperently loves Sazuko. So...read on to find out what happens. :)  
**

Sazuko POV

Sazuko turned her head as she heard a screech near the open field of the school. She had been under a tree, near the grassy field.

She gasped. It was Gaara, the new transfer student in her art class! And Sasuke's gang of "cool kids". And...was that Suigetsu? With a knife?

She sighed. It wasn't her business, but she couldn't help running towards them. She didn't hate Gaara, but she wouldn't like to see him dead either, despite that fact that he technically called her mute. _Well, I'll show you that I can and will talk when I have to save your butt._

"Heh..." Suigetsu dropped Gaara on the field. Sazuko saw that Gaara was panting for breath, and there was a deep cut on his neck.

_Dammit! _She thought. _Why would Gaara go and talk with people like those? They're nothing but trouble..._

Sneaking up behind them, Sazuko whacked Sasuke's head.

"What the-" Sasuke stopped as he turned around and saw Sazuko.

"You, again! You're nothing but trouble at this school...and at your previous schools, so I heard," Sasuke sneered.

"At least I didn't go around bullying people," Sazuko replied cooly. She then walked past them and stood next to Gaara. "Especially new students."

She bent down and examined the cut on Gaara's neck. The bleeding was subsiding, although a lot of blood seemed to have trickled away. Sazuko took out a tissue from her pocket and gently cleaned off the blood, seeing him blush as she did so. _Stupid_, she thought.

"Heh...we'll leave you guys alone, considering that we don't need a _weakling_ in our group," Suigetsu laughed. "Catch you guys later." Sasuke's group left the field, laughing as they went.

"Damn idiots..." Sazuko muttered. "Thinks that hurting people is fun..." She turned towards Gaara. "You okay?"

Gaara POV

_What was she doing here?_ Gaara thought. _I thought she hated me!_

"Hey, look. I asked you a question. I expect you to answer it," Sazuko kneeled in front of Gaara. "If you have listening problems, I'll use sign language..."

"That won't be necessary," Gaara replied coldly. "I was just suprised to see you, that's all."

"Oh, sure you were, you were suprised enough to blush," Sazuko said, the sarcasm obvious in her voice. She rolled her eyes.

"I was not," Gaara protested.

"Yes you were."

"No I wasn't."

Sazuko sighed. "Ya know what? I think I'll just clean up that cut and I'll go away." She stood up and prepared to leave, but not beforing telling Gaara to stay where he was.

Gaara sighed. Where were Temari and Kankuro? At least they would've been nice to him when he got hurt...most of the time. Dealing with Sazuko was like dealing with a pain in the neck. Slowly, he sat up.

In a couple of minutes, Sazuko returned with a lot of paper towels and some water. Gaara stared as she opened the bottle and poured water all over the towel.

"You're getting water on your pants," Gaara noted.

"Shut up!" Sazuko replied angrily. (She tends to be very careless.)

Gently, Sazuko used the wet towel to wash away the blood on Gaara's neck, then used a dry towel to clean it. During the whole time, Gaara felt himself burning in the face. (LOVE)

"There," Sazuko said as the blood seemed to stop. "That should do it."

Gaara touched the scar on his neck, then looked at his hand. There was no blood on it.

"Umm...thanks?"

"Yeah, you should thank me," Sazuko said as she left the field, leaving Gaara alone with a couple of paper towels.

**Yay, longest chapter yet. :) Please review, people! And give me some ideas for the next chapters...I'm running out of ideas...**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

**Melody, please don't use his name here...Many thanks to Fentown-fanfic wouldn't let me edit, and she told me how to get over it! :D  
**

Temari POV

"Gaara! Are you okay?" Temari asked. She had come running from her class to the nurse's office when she heard that Gaara had been injured at school. Kankuro was her as well.

"I'm fine," Gaara said.

"Yes he is fine," Sazuko said. "Apperently, he was okay enough to argue that he doesn't have to come to the nurse."

Gaara glared at Sazuko. Temari sighed, and then realized that Sazuko had save her little brother and she still haven't thanked her.

"Thanks, Sazuko," Temari said.

"Yeah," Kankuro added. "Our little bro might've been dead without you."

Sazuko looked suprised, but accepted their thanks. "Soo...I'll be going then...umm...Gaara."

Gaara looked up. "What."

"Umm...do you guys have a family doctor? I heard that you guys just moved over here, so...I was thinking that you guys could come to my house after school and I could take a look at your cut..." Sazuko trailed off, attempting to hide her blush.

"That would be great if you could," Temari cut in. She knew that Gaara would be awkward in situations like these, and it would be better if she helped him.

"When do you want us to come?" Kankuro asked.

"I'll wait outside at the gate, okay?" Sazuko answered. "In the back of the school."

Temari nodded. "Okay. Thanks."

Sazuko accepted their thanks, and backed outside the door. "Bye."

Sazuko POV

The moment she backed out the door, Sazuko started hyperventilating. _What the hell was I thinking? I can't invite these people over, I barely know them! Besides, I've known my friends for years and I haven't invited them over yet!  
_

The sane part of her mind said, _Calm down, Sazuko, calm down. You invited them over cause Gaara's hurt. He needs your help.  
_

_That's not a reason. I don't know him that well, or his siblings. In fact, I didn't even know he had siblings up till 5 minutes ago! Argh...  
_

_Well, look at it this way. It's too late now._

_THANKS...that made me feel a whole lot better._

_That's what I'm here for._

_Yeah...can you go away now?  
_

The voices in Sazuko's head stopped, and she bumped into someone. As she looked up, she gasped. What was _he_ doing here?

**Cliffhanger XD Please review, sorry for the suspense...All I have to say is...it's a Naruto character. Probably.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. If I did, I could draw it better... XD**

**Thank you, my new reviewers, Ana and Fentown.  
**

Sazuko POV

"What the hell are you doing here?" Sazuko asked aggressively.

"...nothing," the stranger said with a sly smile.

The stranger was Zabuza, her old fighting teacher.

Gaara POV

Gaara sighed. Why did Temari have to help him like that? He could handle situations like that...besides, he didn't even want to go to her house.

"Gaara..." Temari said.

"What," Gaara replied angrily. His sister was so bossy.

"Look, I know you didn't want me to help you, but she's nicer than you think," Temari said.

"Whatever..." _It's all Sazuko's fault_, Gaara thought, _She's the one who helped me, I could've been fine on my own._

"I'm leaving," Gaara said abruptly while standing up.

Temari and Kankuro look at him with worried eyes, fearing that he was going to take his anger out on something, or someone. As Gaara opened the door, he found Sazuko with a guy he'd never seen before.

Temari POV

Temari gasped. Who was this guy? Is he a teacher? (remember, this is still the first day at their new school)

"Who the hell is he?" Kankuro asked Temari.

"How would I know?" She stood up, and walked towards Gaara, who was still in front of the door.

"Who are you?" Temari asked the stranger.

"I'm Zabuza, demon of the hidden Mist academy," he said. "And she," Zabuza jerked his hand towards Sazuko, "is my long lost apprentice."

**A bit short...I need to think about what happens after this first...sorry readers!**

**Review please!  
**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Or any of its characters. If I did...*evil laugh* Let's just say they won't be the same.**

**Just as a warning, this chapter might not make sense unless you know that:  
1. Everyone in this world that I created have skills with weapons.  
2. I'm trying to show Temari's fan and Kankuro's puppet without telling it outright.  
3. Gaara has no weapon skills yet, his sand is going to be changed into something else...:)  
**

Gaara POV

Gaara'd known that there was something wrong with Sazuko the moment Sasuke said that he knew where she came from. But never did he think that she was an apprentice of the famous sword master, Zabuza, who only took people highly skilled in the sword as apprentices!

"Sazuko, do you want to tell us how you know this person?" Temari asked sternly as she walked over to Gaara. Temari hated the art of swords. She liked using things that were easier to learn, yet equally effective and covered longer ranges.

Kankuro walked over to his sister. "Temari...chill," he said, laying a hand on his sister's shoulder. Kankuro liked using objects with deadly weapons inside them to attack, but not swords either.

"Heh...so you want to know how I know him?" Sazuko said with a grim smile. "Come home with me after school, and you'll understand."

Lucky for her, the bell for their next classes rang at that moment. Instantly, Zabuza disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Whoa," Kankuro said, stunned. "That is epic."

Gaara stared at Sazuko, while Sazuko averted her gaze from the 3 siblings.

Temari, the oldest, took charge. "Let's go, we won't accomplish anything by standing around."

-Big Time Skip, After School-

"How long is she gonna keep us waiting?" Kankuro said.

Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari were standing outside the school gate, waiting for Sazuko to show up. They'd already waited for over five minutes, yet she still wasn't here.

"There she is," Temari said, pointing to the classroom right next to the school entrance. Gaara looked to where Temari had pointed.

Sazuko was running towards them, carrying two textbooks and a violin case.

"Sorry," she panted as she came up to them. "Had to get my textbooks and violin."

"No sweat," Kankuro said, laughing. Gaara just gave Sazuko a murderous glare, as if telling her that it was her fault that he had to wait.

"Chill," Sazuko said towards Gaara, slamming her textbooks on his backpack, "It's not my fault that my locker's on the other side of the school."

Gaara's answer was another long glare. Sazuko just laughed it off.

"Wow," Temari whisper to Sazuko, "No one's ever talked to Gaara like that."

**Have to wrap it up now, I have a test in a few minutes. **

**Review please!  
**


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Or any of its characters. **

**Okay...sorry about not updating, I was busy. No need to delve into that further...On with the story.**

Sazuko POV

"Sazuko, can you tell us how you know Zabuza?" Kankuro asked as they walked down the road to Sazuko's house. The three siblings and Sazuko were walking to where Sazuko lived, which was not so far away.

"Sure," Sazuko replied easily, "I saw him one day at the supermarket. I asked him if he could teach me swords. He said yes."

Kankuro, Temari, and Gaara stopped walking. "Really." Gaara asked, no humor in his voice at all.

Sazuko laughed. "Of course not, stupid! It's wasn't that easy." Then she whacked his head with a textbook she was holding (my favorite move!). Gaara turned away and fumed for being the object of her humiliation. The group continued walking.

"But it was close enough," Sazuko continued. "My parents invited him over when I was six. He was a master swordsman, and, since I liked swords, they asked him to tutor me. But first, he said that he had to test my skills, so he challenged me.

"It was a hard match. I barely scratched him, but he said that it was good. Then I moved away from home and lived with him for about three years."

Sazuko suddenly stopped walking. "This is where I live." She gestured to the house in front of them.

The house wasn't so big, nor was it decorated fancily. What surprised the siblings the most was the big sign in front of the door that said: Keep out, or die screaming. And it seemed to be hand-made.

"What are you guys staring at?" Sazuko asked, puzzled by their reaction.

Temari pointed at the sign. "Did you make it?"

"Nope," Sazuko said cheerfully. "My sister and I made it."

"Big difference," Kankuro said, "It's kinda creepy either way."

Sazuko just laughed it off. "It's cause I live alone with my sister. Our parents were killed two years ago."

-Dead Silence-

"I'm so sorry!" Temari said suddenly. She went forward to hug Sazuko but Sazuko dodged it.

"No hugs," Sazuko said abruptly. (Like me!)

Kankuro laughed. "Nice sis. Nearly bumped into that tree in front of you." Temari replied with a swift punch to Kankuro's shoulder.

"Oh! I just had an idea!" Sazuko said. "Gaara, when I ring the doorbell, I want you to stand in front of it. You look scary, so that would give my little sister a fright." She laughed.

Gaara turned menacingly towards her. "So you think I'm scary, eh?"

"No, you only look scary. You're not that frightening at all. In fact, you're not that strong either."

Gaara swung a fist towards Sazuko.

"Look out!" Temari cried. Sazuko ducked the blow.

"Fail!" Sazuko taunted as she danced out of the way of Gaara's next blow.

So the same thing happened for a few more minutes, until Gaara had Sazuko pinned against the tree.

"Heh...who's weak now?" Gaara sneered.

Sazuko just smiled pleasantly. "I could break free if I wanted to, but my sister's gonna open the door right..."

The front door opened.

"...now."

**Hahahaha you won't get to know what happens next yet!**

**JK, I need to think about that first :P**

**Review please!  
**


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Or any of its characters. I have the last bits of the previous chapter just as a reminder... :D  
**

_Sazuko just smiled pleasantly. "I could break free if I wanted to, but my sister's gonna open the door right..."  
The front door opened.  
"...now."_

Gaara POV

_HOLY SHIT,_ Gaara thought as the door opened. _I hope that's not her sister...I mean, really. I'm holding Sazuko against a tree, with my body only a few centimeters away from her. Any pervert could take it wrongly...I hope she's not older than Sazuko...  
_

"Heh...game over," Sazuko said, while grinning evilly.

Suddenly, Gaara felt a shove on his back and his lips land right now Sazuko's lips. (Hahaha...had to do that) He could feel Sazuko's penetrating, shocked glare at him. _It's an accident, stupid! I didn't kiss you on purpose! _

"Awww...love!" Gaara heard a feminine voice behind him. Furiously, he turned around and glared at the person who pushed him.

It was a young girl, no older than 8 years old. She had light green hair and stunning red eyes, similar to Sazuko's colors.

"You're Sazuko's sister, aren't you." It was more of a statement than a question.

"And you're her boyfriend?" she asked cheekily.

**WHAM!**

Sazuko's sister fell on the ground grabbing her head in pain. "What the hell?"**  
**

Gaara turned around and saw Sazuko, with a furious look in her eyes. "What were you thinking? You stupid thing!"

"I was thinking that you two would look perfect with each other!" she said gleefully, seemingly unaffected by Sazuko's earth-shattering punch.

Temari and Kankuro started laughing.

Gaara whipped his head around at them, and saw his siblings clutching at their sides, breathless from laughing.

"Grrr..." Gaara growled.

"Sorry, Gaara, but it's true! You guys would look perfect with each other!" Temari gasped out between bouts laughter.

"Temari!" Sazuko huffed. She turned towards Gaara. "If you want to beat her up, I won't object."

"Gladly," Gaara whispered harshly. He stalked towards Temari and Kankuro menacingly.

"I'm sorry Gaara, I'm sorry!" Kankuro and Temari said, pleadingly. "Don't kill us!"

Sazuko grabbed Gaara's head, pulling him back. "They apologized, so it's okay. Besides...it's my sister's fault anyways. If you want to beat anyone up, beat her up."

Quick as lightning, Sazuko's sister dashed back into the house. "Nyah, nyah!"

"Come back here, Hirako!"

**Haveta stop here, I'm not gonna be here next week.**

**Review please!  
**


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Or any of its characters. Sorry it took me so long to update, I had a writers' block. Ugh. And I was busy...  
**

**On with the story :D**

Gaara POV

"I am so sorry about my sister," Sazuko said apologetically, leading the party to her house.

"Whatever," Gaara grunted. "Just hurry up and treat the wound, will you?"

"Yeah sure," Sazuko said as they arrived into the living room.

Gaara heard Temari give a little gasp as she saw the house. Chairs were upturned and books were dropped on the floor. Cabinet doors were opened and papers were lying everywhere. All in all, the place was a mess.

"HIRAKO!" Sazuko yelled towards the stairs. "What did you do? This place looks even messier than usual!"

"Not messier than yesterday!" Hirako hollered back. "You didn't clean it up!"

Sazuko faced her guests. "Sorry, please excuse me," she said as she stomped up the stairs.

"All right, you asked for it!" Gaara heard Sazuko yell, followed by punching and kicking and screaming.

**A few minutes later...**

"Right." Sazuko huffed as everyone sat down on the couch in the cleaned up room. "This is Hirako, my sister, age 8. A bit of a brat, but alright nontheless. This is Temari, Gaara, and Kankuro."

She gestured towards each of them and Hirako, who was beaten up by Sazuko apparently.

"You're weird looking," Hirako said towards Gaara with innocent eyes. Gaara felt a sudden urge to kill her.

"Uh..." Temari said, with a forced smile. "He's gonna kill you..."

"I can smell blood on you," Hirako continued.

_No duh_, Gaara thought.

"That's why I'm here," Gaara growled. "Your sister dragged me here, against my will, to treat my neck wound."

"Yup that's right. I dragged him here and he nearly killed me," Sazuko said cheerfully. "So if you don't mind, I'm actually gonna do my job now. SO LEAVE." The last part was said with force.

Hirako silently left the room, but not before adding in one last sentence, "Temari, make sure they don't do anything weird, okay?" and left.

Gaara heard Temari smother a giggle. He gave her a glare.

"Right. Can you pull down your shirt a bit so that the neck is showing?" Sazuko asked gently. "I'm gonna go get the medical kit."

Gaara gave Sazuko a nasty look, but obeyed. As she left, Gaara looked around her house, taking in all the details.

"I wonder where her parents are..." Kankuro murmured.

"Yeah..." Temari agreed. "You would think that one of her parents would be home to welcome them, and she has a little sister that's still in elementary school."

Gaara just remained silent as his siblings continued their conversation. He noticed that there were some pictures of Sazuko's and Hirako's parents, but it showed them when they were younger. There weren't any recent photos. There was also a photo of an old boy, around 17 or 18. Her boyfriend, maybe?

"All right," Sazuko said. Gaara hadn't even noticed Sazuko coming back.

"Let's see..." Sazuko started pawing at Gaara's neck and taking out some kind of medicine or something.

"Sazuko..." Temari said, "Where are your parents?"

Sazuko paused in taking out some bandages.

"They died."

**Okay, I have to get this out or I'm never going to. **

**STAR testing next week, I won't be updating either. Sorry guys.**

**Review please!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. **

**Psh. I just realized that POV was supposed to be in first person. hahaha...So I'll try writing in first person... :D**

Sazuko POV

Umm...did everyone just pass out? They're all so silent...

Maybe I should...poke them!

"I'm so sorry!" Temari suddenly burst out.

Say what? Haha, forgot, Temari can't read minds. Let me try that again.

"Say what?" I said, voicing my thought.

"Your parents died!" Temari cried.

"Yeah...so..." I gestured for her to continue. Huh. Big explosive reaction. Note to self: Never tell anyone that your parents died.

"So you're living all alone with your sister!" Temari continued.

"Um... actually, I have a brother. He's in college..."

Gaara looked as if something just clicked in place. Hahaha, that's a weird look for him. He should do that more.

Temari stood up and reached over to hug me. Eww...

"No hugs, Tem. I'm allergic to them," I said, raising up my hand. "Besides, I get by just fine."

"How?" Kankuro said, while pulling his sister back.

"My brother has a part time job at this place, he sends monthly checks over. And I perform for people on Saturdays and Sundays at this big festival kinda thingy that goes on every weekend. They pay me pretty good." I smiled.

"What do you play?" Gaara said darkly. Whoops. Forgot he was there. Hahaha. Oh, right, I should treat his wound, huh.

I moved over to put the really yucky ointment on his neck. "Violin, and my friend does a duet with me with his viola (haha that was the first thing I thought of, and no, I don't like him, right Diana? btw, that character is an OC), we're actually pretty good."

Gaara flinched away. "What is that thing?" he asked.

...Good point. What is it anyways?

"Eh...I don't know?" I said stupidly. Gaara turned away and exhaled.

"So you don't even know what that is and you're using it on a patient you haven't met until today?" Gaara exploded.

"He has a point there," Kankuro added.

Oh, you shut up. I mentally stuck my tongue out at him.

I sighed out loud. "Whatever, I'll just use it. I won't kill you if I use it on you."

Gaara backed away. "No frickin' way, you are not using that!" He pulled the collar of his shirt back on and ran toward the door.

At this point, my anger level went from 1 to max.

"GAARA! GET YOUR SORRY ASS BACK OVER HERE OR I'M GOING TO POUND YOU TO THE GROUND!" I screamed. "HIRAKO, STOP HIM!"

"From what?" came the bored voice upstairs.

Okay, you know what, if you want something done, I guess you have to do it yourself.

Grr...Gaara...I'm sooo gonna beat you up...

**That's all the time I have for today, it's 8:53 and I have to sleep :P**

**By the way, the chapters from here on are probably gonna be longer, I'm gonna be adding in all the Naruto characters as well.**

**Hahahahaha...writing in first person is easier than in third!**

**Okay, review people!  
**


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

Gaara POV

Holy shit I think I'm gonna die right here and now!

Sazuko had this crazed look in her eyes and she was cracking her knuckles. Her hair was like on fire, and I swear, my whole life just flashed before my eyes. Oh god. SAVE ME!

"Hi Gaara," came a bored voice upstairs. Huh, Hirako. Big surprise. "Good luck, she's gonna beat you up, she didn't have her sugar today. She is really stressed and when you try to oppose her where she's stressed, you most likely die."

Yay. Thanks for the tip.

I prepared to run when Sazuko started charging at me.

Temari POV

"Bet you five bucks that Sazuko's gonna beat Gaara bloody," I whispered to Kankuro.

"You're on," he said back.

**After 10 minutes of mindless violence...**

No One's POV

Gaara was nearly killed. He was NOT a pretty sight. His blood was everywhere and a couple bones were dislocated. He was lying on the ground gasping for breath. Sazuko was perfectly fine, except for a few blotches of Gaara's blood.

And the best part was...Temari and Kankuro were just watching, doing nothing, the whole time. Temari had a winning expression on her face, and Kankuro looked like he just lost five dollars.

Gaara POV

...Ouch.

She is one scary woman...

Sazuko POV

Grr...

...Wait...

*Light Bulb*

Gaara POV

I slowly got up from the floor, groaning. Think I heard my bones crack. Damn, is she gonna pay.

As I opened my eyes, I saw that Sazuko had that really ucky cream thingy. Ew, she is not gonna use that on me.

"Here, Gaara! Catch!" she said and threw that at me.

Due to my awesome reflexes, i caught it. Good news is, I caught it with my hand. Bad news is, I got the poison all over me.

Before I could react, Sazuko jumped over and pushed me down.

"Temari, Kankuro, help me hold him down," Sazuko said towards my siblings. If they are going to help her, I'm gonna kill them.

Crap. Here they come...

Temari POV

Hahaha. I win my bet, Kankuro.

"Kankuro, hold down his legs, Temari, you get his arms," Sazuko ordered.

I did as I was told and held down Gaara's arms.

"Grr..." I heard Gaara whisper. "Why are you helping her?"

"Cuz it's fun watching you get killed by a girl!" I replied, laughing.

"Because of you, I lost five bucks," Kankuro whined. "You coulda at least put up more of a fight!"

"Shut up," Gaara said coldly. "She hits hard."

I can't believe everyone at our old school was scared of you! Ha, wait till I tell Dad.

"Okay, I'm done," Sazuko said.

Oh yeah, we should be leaving soon.

"Hey, Sazuko, it's kinda late," I reminded her. "We should be going soon, I think it's almost 7."

"No worries, you guys can stay the night if you want," Sazuko replied cheerfully. "I'll ask my friends to come over, they can meet you guys."

I was about to protest, but before I could, Sazuko continued, "Don't worry about it! Almost everyone hangs over at my house around once a week. Psh, I think they're worried about me being lonely." She laughed.

"Well, if you're sure," Kankuro said. "I'm going to call Dad. He's strict, so I don't think we're gonna be able to stay here for the night." He made a move to stand up.

Sazuko stopped him. "No, let me, you're staying at my house after all. What's your number?"

I gave her our number, Gaara pretended to be asleep while he was actually fuming inside, and Kankuro just sat there, waiting. What an idiot.

Sazuko took out her phone from one of the pockets on her jacket and dialed the number.

After a few seconds, she said, "Dammit, it's asking me to leave a message. What do you want me to say?"

I took the phone away from her. "Hey, Dad, it's Temari. We're at our friends house, it's kinda late so we're gonna stay the night, kay? We're going to school by ourselves tomorrow, you don't have to pick us up from here, just remember to pick us up from school. Bye."

I hung up and returned the phone to Sazuko.

"Awesome," she said. "All I have to do now is call everyone."

"Hey," Gaara growled. "Don't I get a say in this?"

Sazuko laughed. "Nope! You're injured badly (and whose fault was that?) so you're gonna have to stay anyways."

Gaara went back to staring at the ceiling. Excuse me, glaring.

**Okay, I have to stop now, I only have 3 more minutes on the computer. (It's a library computer, they only give you an hour)**

**A crappy place to stop, I know, but just remember to review!**


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Or any of its if some of you guys are getting bored with my writing (it sucks, i know). Hey, even my teachers've said that I need more help with writing :D**

**Bold text is the person on the other end of the phone.  
**

**Sooo...on with the story :D**

Sazuko POV

"Hey, Naruto!" I said through the phone. Right now, I was calling everyone to come over (everyone being the naruto gang except sasuke, since the time is shippuden). I hope at least some of them decide to come over, I may have to bribe them. Hahaha.

**"Yo, Sazuko! What's up?"**

"Wanna come over right now?"

**"Why?"**

"Remember that new guy back in art class?"

**"Yeah, what about him?"**

"Well, he's here right now, along with his siblings, so wanna meet them?"

**"Sure! I'm gonna call the usual, right?"** (the usual being the male part of the naruto gang)

"Yeah, just don't call Ryu (my new OC)."

**"Sure, see ya!"**

"Bye," I hung up.

I heaved a sigh. Right. Time to call the girls.

I dialed Hinata's number and waited for hours. Not really.

**"H-hello?"** came a frightened whisper on the other end.

"Yo, Hina!"

**"H-hello, Sazuko..."**

"Wanna come over right now? If you will, can you call all the other girls?"

**"S-sure...I'm calling Tenten, Sakura, and Ino?"**

"If you want to call Ino, go ahead. I don't really talk to her anymore."

**"O-okay...b-bye, Sazuko..."**

"See ya, Hina!"

Yeah! All that's left is Ryu. Hmm...gotta make up something cool...

Aha! I got it! *evil smile*

**Haha. Sorry readers, I'm gonna make it a cliffhanger here. XD I have the idea already, so just wait a few days, okay?**

**Sorry this isn't very long...  
**


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. **

**So Sazuko is calling everyone over and has a *surprise* for Ryu. Hahaha, just read on to find out what happens.**

Ryu POV**  
**

Here I was, skateboarding in my neighborhood, when my phone rings. Should I or should I not pick it up? Odds are, it's more likely Sazuko than a stalker.

So, I picked it, hoping it's Sazu. Yup, it's her.

**"Hey, Ryu!"** she said.

"Yo, Sazu, wassup?" I avoided a bush in my way.

**"Nothing, wanna chill over at my place?"**

"Sure, now?"

**"Actually..."**

Sazuko POV

**"Sure, now?"**

"Actually..." I paused for dramatic effect.

**"What?"** Ryu said, with a little worry in his voice. I mentally laughed. He would care.

"Well...I have a little shopping to do. Ya know, for food. Wanna come?" I knew what the answer would be. Mehehe.

Ryu paused before answering.

**"As in a date?"** he said, with hope in his voice.

I knew he would fall for that. "Yup!" I faked cheerfullness.

**"Awesome, I'll be in front of Ralphs in 10 minutes."** (Ralphs is a store in America)

"Bye! See ya there!" Haha, sucker. Oh well, at least I wouldn't be alone.

I fast walked back to Temari, Gaara, and Kankuro.

"So what did they say?" Temari asked.

"They said yeah. So now, I have to do some shopping for food." I sighed. I HATE shopping trips. After hugs, of course.

"Okay, when will you be back?"

"Eh...in half an hour at most." I looked around for my skateboard that I sworn I put here yesterday. Oh there it is. Under the table that was in the corner of the room. Now my backpack...damn, I can't remember where I put it. "Temari, did you see my backpack? It's black and white."

Temari pulled out something under Gaara. "This?" she asked.

"My backpack!" I screamed. "Gaara, what did you do to it?"

Gaara smiled evilly. "I squashed it flat, then sat on it, then farted on it."

I punched down hard on his shoulder. "What the- ow!" He tried to hold his shoulder in place. (Haha, my specialty.)

"Bye guys, don't move an inch!" I waved over my shoulder as I went out the door, while hitting the front door with my backpack.

"Alright, we won't!" Kankuro called out.

I locked the door and put the keys in my back pocket. I jumped onto my skateboard and sailed through the neighborhood to where Ryu should be now.

**A few minutes later in front of the convenience store...  
**

"Yo, Ryu!" I yelled out and waved really really hard.

"Hey, Sazu!" he called back and ran towards me. As we neared each other, I slapped his hand as in a high five. He took it as an arm wrestling match. After a few minutes, I won.

"So what's the score now?" I asked.

"Seven to nine, you're nine," he replied swiftly. I took my skateboard, folded it in half (I built mine that way :3), and jammed it into my backpack. Ryu did the same.

"Let's go," I said as I walked into the store.

After ten minutes of shopping for food, we ended up with three 12-pack cokes, two of those chocolate pie things, and some bags of chips with paper plates and spoons.

I took out my skateboard and unfolded it and put the cokes inside. I gave Ryu the chips and utensils to put in his bag. We each held one of the pies to prevent them from getting squashed.

"Ready?" I said, while readying to go.

"Set..." Ryu said, looking ahead.

"Go!" we yelled at the same time. The trip back home became a race to see who could finish first.

**Okay, I know I'm trailing away from the "mostly Gaara POV" part, but I think Sazuko's view of Gaara is important as well.**

**So the story's gonna kinda be like Sazuko likes Gaara, which is mostly Sazuko POV, then Gaara returns her feelings, which would be Gaara POV. So Gaara POV would be later on.**

**Please review, readers! I'm gonna need help with future chapters.  
**


	18. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Or any of its characters. **

Gaara POV

"Hn?" I turned my head as I heard something in front of the door. Sounded like a stampede.

"Oh no you don't!" I heard Sazuko shout.

"Ha, you can't get past me!"said an unknown voice. Then, I heard someone hit the ground. Ouch.

"What are they doing?" Temari asked, shocked.

"I have no clue," Kankuro said in wonder.

The front door clicked open, and there was Sazuko, standing with a victory pose. She was holding her skateboard in her hand. Does she realize how manly she's looking right now? I bet she doesn't even care.

"Yeah!" she shouted. "Once again, I win!" Psh, win what?

Then I noticed a body in front of the house. It was a guy with dark black hair and blue streaks. He had a backpack on and a skateboard next to him. Huh, she must've beaten him in a race or something.

"Dude, you cheated!" he said. "You knocked me down, that doesn't count!"

"No one said you couldn't!" Sazuko laughed. "Better luck next time, eh, Ryu?"

Ryu laughed, then stood up. He turned to look at me. He had dark blue eyes.

"Hey, are you Gaara?" he asked me.

"So what if I am?" I growled. I already hated his guts. If he was friends with Sazuko and he's a boy, which I'm sure he is, then he must hit twice as hard as Sazuko. And she hits hard enough already.

Ryu laughed. "No need with the attitude, man. I'm not here to beat you up or anything." Oh sure you aren't. Isn't that what Sazuko said when she brought me over?

"Hey, Tem, did anyone come yet?" Sazuko asked my sister. Oh, so now she ignores me, huh.

"Nope," Temari said. "But I think they're coming soon, Shikamaru called about bringing food. I told him to just do as they normally do."

"Awesome, now I gotta clean this place up," Sazuko sighed. "Hirako! Are you gonna go over to Mitsuchi's house?"

"Can I?" came Hirako's voice from upstairs.

"Yeah, sure, if you want to!"

Hirako came stomping down the stairs. "Yeah!" she yelled as she grabbed a jacket from the floor and went for the door.

"Be back before midnight!" Sazuko called after her. How motherly.

"Yeah, sure!" Hirako ran out of the house without pause. She slammed the door after her. Sheesh, I think Sazuko's friends and family likes having dramtic entrances and exits.

"Well, that's her out of the way," Ryu sighed. "I'm glad."

"Why?" I rasped. She seemed fine to me, except for the fact that she pushed me onto Sazuko.

"Well, she's kinda like a party pooper. Let's just leave it at that for now." Sazuko started dragging furniture around.

I was sitting on the chair that she was trying to push away. "Hey, watch it, there's someone sitting here!" I growled.

She pushed me off the chair and onto the floor. Ow...

"Really?" She looked at me with innocent eyes. "I had no idea that an invisible person was here!"

"Grr..." I glared at her. She glared right back.

Kankuro laughed. "Looks like Gaara's met his match!"

Suddenly, the front door burst open. A girl in buns with clothes that looked Chinese and a guy with really really long hair was in front of the door. Next the guy was another girl, a really shy looking girl with dark blue hair. Behind her was a guy in green spandex. Wow, what a great fashion sense. I mentally kicked myself. Hypocrite.

"We're here!" the guy in the back yelled loud enough to wake the dead.

"H-hi..." the girl in front of him said, stuttering. Hey, she has a real pretty voice.

"Hey, Sazu, how are you?" the Chinese girl said as she walked in.

"Hey guys! C'mon in!" Sazuko said cheerfully, waving them in.

Ryu walked over to the long haired guy and pounded his back. "Yo, Neji! Long time no see!"

Neji laughed briefly. "By 'long time', do you mean from the time school was out today to now? Cause that's around four hours only."

Ryu smirked. "Yup, I sure do!" Then they both laughed.

I turned and look towards Sazuko. She turned around and noticed me looking.

"Oh, yeah, I haven't introduced you guys yet! Gaara, Temari, Kankuro, these guys are Tenten, Hinata, Neji, and Lee." She gestured to each of them as she said their names.

Tenten smiled brightly while Hinata just gave a shy little smile from behind Tenten. Neji gave us a small smile while glaring with a cool expression. Lee instantly went into hyper mode and gave Temari a hug.

"Back off weirdo," Temari said while giggling. If he starts hitting on my sis, he's gonna die. Kankuro looked like he had the same idea with his angered look.

More people poured in through the door. Sazuko and Ryu introduced us to Sakura, Naruto, Shikamaru, Choji, Kiba, Shino, and Sasuke.

When Sasuke came, I waved for Sazuko to come over. She did, with an inquiring look on her face.

"What's wrong?" she said.

I whispered, "Isn't it a bad idea for Sasuke and Naruto to be in the same room? Aren't they gonna break everything?"

Sazuko laughed. "Don't worry, Sasuke's pretty nice when his gang isn't here. He just needs to relax more." She put her head onto my shoulder. WHAT THE FUCK.

"What are you doing?" I asked startled. She glared at me. "I'm tired, okay? I just told everyone to come just so that they could meet you guys. Plus, I skateboarded like a manic to come home. I deserve a rest." She sighed.

I sighed alongside with her. Can't argue with that. Sazuko instantly fell asleep. And since I have insomnia, I can't fall asleep. I just sighed again and look at Temari for help. Unfortunately, she was busy talking with Shikamaru and Kiba. Kankuro was talking with Neji and Sakura. Great, so what do I do now?

**Oh wow, this is a long chapter. Hope you liked it! Sazuko and Gaara are starting to fall in love, although you probably can't tell.**

**Please review, readers!  
**


	19. Chapter 19

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

**Thanks a lot my reviewers! The reviews are helpful! Keep it up :D Love ya guys  
**

Ryu POV

Hey, would you look at that. Sazuko fell asleep on Gaara! Gaara was looking at me with pleading eyes, as if begging me to get her off of him. Hahaha...should I, or should I not?

I walked over to Gaara and sat down next to him. Gaara instantly snapped his head to me.

"Hey, are you gonna get her off of me?" he grumbled.

"Nope," I answered cheerfully. "Why should I?"

Gaara glared at me. Hard. "You'd better get her off of me...or I'll rip you to shreds."

I laughed. Now where have I heard that before? From Sazuko probably.

"Actually, Gaara, I'm not scared of your threat. Cause you can't do anything with Sazuko on you."

Gaara POV

"Actually, Gaara, I'm not scared of your threat. Cause you can't do anything with Sazuko on you," Ryu said. Like I said before, I hated him.

Suddenly, I felt something wet on my shoulder. I glanced at it, and noticed that Sazuko was drooling on my shirt. Yuck.

Ryu noticed and laughed. "Guess I shoulda told you that she drools in her sleep."

"You're not helpful at all," I said emotionlessly.

"...Gaara..." Sazuko mumbled in her sleep. Say what? She thinks about _me_ when she's asleep?

I felt myself turning red, and I could feel Ryu's eyes burning into me.

"Don't touch the sword..." Sazuko continued. "It might slice your neck off...not that I'd mind."

"What?" I growled. "You won't care that I might die?" I was pissed. That was heartless of her.

Sazuko POV

"You won't care that I might die?" I heard a voice in my subconsciousness. I was still half asleep.

"Of course I would..." I murmured, unsure of who I was talking to.

Suddenly, I felt myself drop towards the floor. Instantly, I woke up.

"Wha?" I jumped up and saw Gaara and Ryu staring at me with weird expressions.

"Uhh...did I do something wrong?" I asked, worried by their expressions.

"You just said that you'd care if Gaara died," Ryu explained.

Oh. No wonder. "Really? I honestly didn't realize I was talking about Gaara..." I'm serious this time, but I don't think they realized it.

I yawned, and sat between Ryu and Gaara. I could feel surprise and hurt pulsing off of them.

Then I had an idea.

"Hey, Ryu, do you wanna play something on the viola for everyone?" I asked, facing him. I had just remembered that I kept his viola here since the last rehearsal.

Ryu seemed surprised, but agreed. I stood up, and clapped my hands together, like Edward in Fullmetal Alchemist. (If you don't know what that looks like, it's kinda like praying with the hand parts only)

"Alright everyone, Ryu is going to play something on the viola. So I want everyone to sit down in a circle and clear a spot in the center." I walked up the stairs, grabbed his viola from my room, and came back down and gave the viola to Ryu.

"Hey, did you tune it?" Ryu asked, taking his viola out.

"Yup," I said, and gave a him really hard pat on the back. "Go for it!"

"Hey," he stopped to stare at me. "Do you wanna do a duet with me? We could play Pachelbel Canon if you want."

I considered his offer. "Sure, why not?" I went upstairs, took my violin, and went down the stairs again with a change of clothes for me and Ryu.

Gaara POV

I sat next to Lee and Temari was sitting in between Shikamaru and Choji. Kankuro was flirting with Sakura, who was sitting next to him. Lee was talking with Neji on his left. Me? I was sitting, doing nothing, and waiting for Ryu and Sazuko to show up.

The minutes dragged by. So I started thinking, since I had nothing better to do. I don't get along with people well, and Sazuko was kinda like my first friend. Well, maybe not friend, but someone who actually talked with me without being scared. Temari got along well with Shikamaru, and Kankuro already found his love. Me, I found someone who would actually consider me as a friend. Pretty good achievements for only the first day at the school, right? Hahaha, I think this school year might actually be fun.

Suddenly, Sazuko and Ryu appeared from the stairs. I gasped. Sazuko looked pretty cute. Wow, something I've never thought of anyone before. Spending time with her and Ryu really changed me.

Sazuko POV

I mentally giggled. Gaara was staring at me like an idiot. Do I really look that good? I gave him a small smile and he blushed. Even Kankuro stopped flirting with Sakura, and Temari dragged her attention away from Shikamaru. Wow, look at those two guys, hitting it off already.

I was wearing a dark red dress that was at ankle length. The sleeves were cut short a little above my elbow. The dress was layered, and it had a little flower pinned on the right.

Ryu had on one of those real official looking suits, I really don't know how to describe it. I guess you could say he looks sophisticated for once.

Gaara POV

Sazuko looks absolutely stunning. I think I'm falling in love.

**Okay, kinda subtle, but that's one of the quicker ways I could make them fall in love.**

**I might be starting a new story soon, I don't know how this one is gonna end.**

**Review readers!  
**


	20. False Chapter 1

**Okay, guys, sorry about this false chapter, but I thought there should be something you should know first. Cause the actual party thing was supposed to be shorter, but I made it way too long. So, I'm going to tell you some of the stuff that should have been explained 3 chapters ago.  
**

Gaara:...Great...

**Shut up, you. All right, so I'm not sure if any of you guys noticed, but chapter 11, 13, 14 are nearly the same, only one is in third person, one is in first.**

Sazuko: You messed up? You're a disgrace to all the authors.

**Yeah, I know. However, I'm not gonna change it since I really don't have anything I can put that'll take up two chapters.**

Gaara: Laaaazy

**Next point. Sazuko.**

Sazuko: yeah?

**You know you have two personalities, right?**

Sazuko: I do? Explain.

**So...thing is, you're quiet at school and actually really hyper at home.**

Sazuko: Yeah...so?

**So I was waiting for a chance to write that out, but like I said before, the party was taking too long. My apologies. **

**Next order of business. Gaara.**

Gaara: what

**I made you seem like a wimp.**

Gaara: Yeah, you did.

**Yeah, yeah. The point is, Sazuko was supposed to teach you weaponry, then you become super awesome. BUT, once again, the party was too long. Ugh.**

Gaara: YOU SUCK

**Yeah, I know! And I know that Sasuke is kinda weird as well...see, at school, he tries to be the kid that everyone wants him to be. Like a gang leader. But he actually isn't, he actually just wants to be himself. So that's why I made him a bit friendlier outside of school.  
**

_All right, so now you know my actual plans. And yes, someone can be real hyper at home and real quiet at school. Cause I am. In class, I don't talk a lot, but when class is over, I am SUPER HYPER. And since the school part was only around 5 chapters, and the rest was all at home, it made it seem like a mistake that I made her really quiet. So sorry about that. _

_I also know it's possible for Sasuke and Naruto to be nice outside of school and mean inside of school. I KNOW. Cause there's a guy I know, sometimes, we're really nice to each other, sometimes, we yell our heads off at each other. Even on the same day, within an hour. So I KNOW that it's possible for Sasuke and Naruto to be like that. That's how I got their personalities. By getting details from my actual life._

_Oh, and I'm not good at sticking with an idea. You've probably noticed when reading my stories. I write what I feel at the moment. So if I'm really excited, all my characters are on sugar rushes. That's why the story plot changes so much. _

**Okay so now that everyone understands the story *I hope*, I will continue writing this as soon as school is over, which is in a few more weeks. Also, I will be having a new fic, I don't know what the title will be like. I just hope it'll be better than this. XD**

**If you want to review, go ahead :D I won't stop you.**_  
_


	21. Chapter 20

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. **

**Okay, I just realized that I forgot to add Shino and Choji into the party T.T so just pretend that they were always there, and was interacting with everyone else. sorry guys.**

Gaara POV ***Time skip to after Sazuko and Ryu's performance***

"That was...nice," I said awkwardly. I felt uncomfortable talking with Sazuko now that I realized that I liked her.

Sazuko smiled. "Really? Thanks."

Ryu laughed and nudged me. "Hey, don't I get any credit? It is a duet after all."

"Sure," I said easily. "You're nicer all of a sudden. Why?"

"Hey, I don't always have to be mean," he replied. (I got that quote from someone) "I can be nice when I want to."

"You guys wanna go outside?" Sazuko asked brightly. "No one's watching right now."

I shrugged. It's her house, she decides what to do.

"Why not?" Ryu put down his viola on a chair and opened the front door. "You guys coming?"

Sazuko put down her violin as well and followed Ryu. "Sure. C'mon Gaara, I'm not going to go find you if you get lost. So you can just starve to death..."

Wow. How nice. I actually like this girl? This girl that makes death threats? Wow. I must be crazy.

I followed the two music players out of the house and to the public park. There wasn't anyone there that late at night, so we had the place to ourselves.

Ryu sighed.

"What?" Sazuko asked.

"I miss the days where we used to hang around here with everyone else. Now they've all moved away..." Ryu trailed off.

"Yeah, but we're made new friends! Well, I have, but you have to go to a different school huh..." Sazuko trailed off as well.

I felt like I was intruding into a private conversation that I had no part in. I mean, I have absolutely no clue what they were talking about. I sighed, and Sazuko seemed to snap out of her thoughts.

"Sorry, Gaara," Sazuko said softly.

"That's more like that Sazuko I knew from school," I said, before realizing I said it.

Sazu turned her head. "What?"

"I'm just saying, you're more calm and silent at school. But at home, you're kinda badass. I thought it was kinda weird."

Sazuko laughed. "Yeah, what I am at school is just an act. I can't keep that forever, I have to let my real self out sometimes, ya know?"

Ryu draped his arm onto my back. "You obviously don't know her very well, do you?"

I glared at him. "Why?"

Ryu gave Sazuko a look that said that him and I needed some boy time. Sazuko understood this and went off somewhere.

Ryu turned me around so I could face him. "I can tell you like her."

Say what? Where did that come out of? How could he tell? All these thoughts and more were floating around in my head where he said that.

Ryu sighed. "It's actually kinda obvious. You keep blushing around her." He paused. That bastard. How did he notice?

"There's also another way I knew without even looking at you." Ryu gave me a meaningful look.

I glared right back. "How." I made it sound more like a statement than a question.

"Well...this could take some explaining..." Ryu looked around. "Okay, Sazu, you can come back now."

Sazuko came out from where ever she was. "You're going to explain _it_ to him?"

Ryu shrugged. "He should know. I bet Tem and Kank know already. I think Shika and Saku told them already." (In case you haven't noticed, I always use abbreviations for names. Tem is Temari, Kank is Kankuro, Shika is Shikamaru and Saku is Sakura.)

At this point, I was really irritated. What is _it_? (OMG that sounds wrong O.o)

Sazuko sighed and faced me. "Well...there's something you should know about Konoha High. Every year end, we hold this thing called School War. It literally is a war. All the people team up and fight against each other, the winner gets a prize, which is different every year."

"So?" I'm not really getting this thing.

"So, this year, it's my job to teach you how to defend yourself at the end of the year war. Shikamaru and Choji are teaching Temari, and Sakura and Kiba and teaching Kankuro. Ryu's gonna help you, so be prepared to die at any moment." Sazu paused. I need to find a restroom to piss.

"Everyone has this special ability that they don't know about," Sazuko continued. "It's activated when you go to Konoha, or someone with the ability helps you activate it. Ryu can read emotions, as you probably have found out already. I can change everything into anything. So, for example, I can that tree into a piece of chocolate."

"Good idea!" Ryu chuckles. "Show him."

I need to learn this if I'm going to survive. Sazuko walks over to the tree as I stared intensely at her. She raised her hand to the tree trunk, and suddenly, it changed into a bar of chocolate.

Wha? I didn't even see anything!

Ryu went over, grabbed the chocolate, and started eating it. "It's eatable, too!"

Sazuko turned back towards me and smiled. "See? It's real. I'm going to activate yours, so don't move right now." She closed her eyes.

Right now? Without warning? That sucks. I closed my eyes as well.

Suddenly, I felt myself thrown into a vivid picture. I saw lots of sand. I mean, like a desert of sand. I was standing in the middle of it all, controlling the sand. How cool is that?

Then the picture disappeared. I opened my eyes and saw Sazuko's face a few inches away from mine. I backed away in shock.

"Sorry," Sazuko said. "What did you see?"

I calmed down. I think what you see is very important. "Sand. Lots of sand."

"So that means you must be able to control sand," Ryu reasoned.

Sazuko nodded. "Yup! When you touch sand, imagine as if you are the sand. Then move it around. We'll work on that for now." She gestured to the sand in the playground. "Try it," she added, with force in her voice.

I sighed and walked over and sat in the sand. So what do I do, just control it? Ha, easier said than done. I closed my eyes and focused. I imagined myself as the sand, and made myself go to Ryu. After a few minutes, I opened my eyes.

Cool. It did go all the way to Ryu. This might be easier than I thought.

**Yay I got this chapter out earlier than I thought :D**

**Read and review! **

**And I made a new fic, called The Unknown Sibling. Read it!**


	22. Chapter 21

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

Ryu POV

Gaara looked at Sazu and me with bright eyes. I could feel his happiness that he actually moved the sand. What he didn't know was that the last person who could control sand was possessed by a demon the moment they activated their powers, then died within a week.

I gave a Sazu a look that said everything. I could sense her mixed emotions, of doing what was best for Gaara, or letting him have his own way, but being ignorant of the problem. I was worried as well. I didn't want Sazuko to be hurt by telling him, and I didn't want her to be the one to give Gaara the bad news. Which meant that I had to tell Gaara.

Sazuko POV

I was seriously torn between what I should do. I'm sure Ryu could tell him already, but I didn't want him to bear the burden of telling Gaara the news. I took a deep breath and steadied myself.

"Are you guys okay?" came Gaara's voice.

"Gaara..." Ryu and I said at the same time. I glanced at him, then I began talking.

"Gaara," I tried again. "There's something you should know. Ryu and I never really expected you to be able to control the sand. Because the last person who was able to control it was possessed by a demon. He then died a few days after that."

Gaara stared at me with wide eyes. I'm not surprised. It's like telling him he only has a few more days to live. Which would be true, unless he could control the demon.

"Who was that person?" he asked suspiciously.

This time, I didn't answer, and let Ryu tell him instead. I just couldn't bring myself to tell him.

"It was Sazuko's dad. He went crazy and killed her mom as well, but luckily, Sazuko, Hirako, and their brother escaped," Ryu paused. "So we're just saying, if you feel another presence inside of you tell us immediately."

Gaara POV

...

"That's a lot of information to take in at a time," I said shakily. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm not scared of anything, but telling me that I have around a week to live sucks shit!

Sazuko smiled a small smile. What the hell? What could be funny right now? Oh, yeah, she won't mind if I die.

"There is a way..." she trailed off. Instantly, I seized my life line.

"What?" I exclaimed. I didn't want to die so soon.

"Well, I'm not sure, but I think all you have to do is not sleep for the rest of your life. At least, that's what I think it said in the book..." Sazuko looked away and sat down on the ground. This was the first time I've seen her nervous and scared. I was tempted to hug her, like to comfort her, but I remembered that she hated hugs at the last second. Instead, I walked over next to her and sat down as well.

"Don't worry about it," I said, wanting to comfort her in any way I could, "I can't sleep anyways, I have insomia." I tried to smile but failed.

Sazuko giggled. "I should be the one comforting you, not the other way around!" She hit my head with her fist. Ouch, that hurt. But at least she seems better now.

"Let's go back," Ryu said suddenly. "Everyone else is probably waiting now." He turned around and started to walk away. Sazuko nodded and stood up. I followed her as she headed back to her house.

"Gaara..." she whispered, halfway to her house. I felt myself turning red.

"W-what?" I stuttered back.

Sazuko reached over and held my hand in hers. "Don't die anytime soon."

I felt a part of myself fly away. She was holding my hand! No one's ever done that, not even Temari. And she cared about me! I felt myself blush like crazy. Ryu turned around and gave me a smirk, showing that he could tell my emotions right now.

"What? Your feelings are like a tsunami right now, they're roiling about in your head. I'm sure even Sazu could sense it," Ryu said logically.

"Yeah, I could actually." Sazuko sighed. "I wish you wouldn't say that kind of stuff out loud, Ryu!"

Ryu laughed evilly and ran away. I felt Sazuko hold my hand tighter, and then she looked at me in the eyes. I looked back, and I'm pretty sure I felt myself die a bit again.

"I'm serious though. I don't want you to die, and I'd really appreciate it if you could stay at my house for the next few weeks. Those are going to be critical for you, since the sand demon, Shukaku, could appear in you at any time. After that, if you manage to control him, you should be okay."

That's sweet of her. Sazu's really caring about me. She's like the mom that I never had. I could see a light blush on her cheeks.

"But don't get me wrong, I don't like you any more than a friend," Sazuko said, turning harsh all of a sudden.

"I wouldn't want you to like me any more than a friend, either," I shot back. She laughed, and let go of my hand. Dang it.

"Let's go back quickly," Sazu said, and dashed towards her house. Which left me alone, so I ran after her.

**So there's some love developing between them :D This is the best I could make it, since I suck at writing love stories.**

**Review please! I'd really like some feedback on my writing, and what I could change to make my story better.  
**


	23. Chapter 22

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

Temari POV

"Really?" I exclaimed to Shikamaru. "I can really control wind?" I couldn't believe it. There was this whole new power that I never knew about until I met this guy!

We were outside in Sazuko's back yard, where Shikamaru and Choji were explaining to me about this "school war".

"Yup," Shikamaru said. "It's a drag to explain, but it really is true. Like I said, I can use shadows to control people."

"Show me now," I ordered. I wanted to see it for myself.

Suddenly, I felt myself go stiff. I tried to move, but I couldn't.

"See? That's how I use shadows to control people," Shikamaru's voice reached me. He raised his right hand up, and my right hand moved with it.

"W-what?" I exclaimed. "How do you do that?"

Shika shrugged. "It just works that way." He released the shadow possession and gestured to Choji. "He can expand himself."

Choji nodded, and suddenly, his hand expanded to the size of me.

"Whoa!" I yelled. He smiled and shrunk it back to its normal size. "Cool."

Kankuro POV

"So...Sakura. You're saying I can move puppets? Like a puppeteer, but I don't even need the strings?" I asked in astonishment. This was the first time I've heard of this thing.

"Yup!" She giggled. "I can maximize out my power. Like if I punch a tree, my attacking force would be ten folded." Sakura raised her fist and connected it to a boulder on the ground. The rock shattered into millions of pieces.

"Nice," I commented.

Sazuko POV

Everyone had gathered back into my house. They were all chatting and I could hear mentions of "power" and "wind" and "puppets". Must mean that Temari and Kankuro knows what is going on. I walked up onto a table and sat there. Whenever I do that, it means that I want silence. Or when I clap my hands, but I felt like climbing onto a table right now. Hehehe.

Soon, everyone shut up. Good.

"All right, so everyone knows what's going on now, right?" I asked, looking around. Temari and Kankuro nodded. I didn't need a response from Gaara, since I know I told him. "So since there's going to a war at the end of this year, I think you three are going to need to master your skills." I didn't need to point out who I was talking to. "So I want Sakura and Kiba to help Kankuro master his power. Which is...?"

"Puppets. He can control them without strings," Sakura replied instantly.

"Cool," I said. "So Kankuro, you might have to stay over at Kiba or Sakura's house on weekends. And Shika and Choji, you guys are to help Temari master her skill, whatever it is."

"It'd be a drag, but sure," Shikamaru said without energy. I mentally sighed.

"Ryu and I are going to be helping Gaara. He..." I trailed off, and looked at Ryu to finish my sentence.

"He can control sand," Ryu stated. Everyone who knew what happened to my parents because of this instantly had this really sad look. "He's going to be staying here for a few weeks. So Temari, Kankuro, you guys can just say that he died or something. Or you can tell you parents the truth. I really don't care."

"It's getting late," I said, changing the subject. I didn't want to talk about this anymore. "If you want to stay over, you can. You don't have to, but it'd be really nice if you could." I climbed off from the table and sat onto a chair. I saw Shino, Neji, and Tenten leave, followed by a few others.

"S-sorry," Hinata came up to me stuttering, "b-but my p-parents would be worried..."

"Don't worry, Hinata!" I got up from my chair and Ryu sank into it. "I can give your parents a call if you want me to." I walked to the phone on the other side of the room.

"I-it's okay, S-sazuko..."

"Alright then..." I walked back and flung Ryu out of my chair and onto the ground so that I could sit. Instead of staying on the floor, he got up and sat on top of me.

"Get off, you rapist!" I pushed him off of me. Yeah, that was a colorful insult, but hey, he knows it's not true. Ryu started yelling curse words at me, words too "colorful" for me to describe. I cursed back at him. Everyone that didn't leave was staring at us with wide eyes.

After a few minutes of cussing, I ran out of words to use.

"Ha! I win the chair!" Ryu threw me off and sat onto it.

"Wow..." Gaara said. "All that was just for the seat?"

I giggled. "Yup." I looked around and saw that only Temari, Kankuro, Gaara, Shikamaru, Sakura, and Ryu were left. I glanced at my watch and noticed that it was almost midnight. "Do you guys want to stay up or sleep?" I looked at Gaara, telling him that he didn't really have a choice.

"It's a school day tomorrow..." Sakura said. "I'm going to sleep." She sat down on the floor and closed her eyes. Kankuro sat next to her and started to sleep as well. Awww. Love birds.

"I'm going to bed as well," Shikamaru said, while leaving to go upstairs. "Guest room's on the left, first door, right?"

"Yeah, take Temari with you," I said, noticing that Temari looked tired as well.

"No, I'm okay! I can stay up with you guys!" she denied. "Besides..." I knew what she was talking about. Gaara's skill.

I cut her off. "No. Shikamaru will explain everything to you." Temari still looked hesitant, but I gave her a push up the stairs.

"If anything bad happens, I want to know," she called out behind her. I nodded, and looked over at Ryu and Gaara.

"Ryu, you can take first shift. Wake me up when it's around three in the morning." Ryu and I are going to make sure that Gaara doesn't fall asleep. Which meant that one of us had to stay up at a time.

"Why me first? I'm tired!" Ryu whined.

"No, you got the chair, so you have to keep him up first." I sat down on the ground and instantly fell asleep.

**Gah...this was long...**

**Review please!  
**


	24. Chapter 23

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

Gaara POV

I sighed and got up to walk around Sazuko's yard for the tenth time that night. It was barely 2:30 in the morning, and I was bored to hell. After a while of walking, I came back with Ryu following me.

"Do you feel anything?" Ryu asked. I swear, if he asks me that again I would use my new power to kill him. Ryu sensed my thoughts and walked over to Sazuko.

"Hey, Sazu, wake up." He squatted down and poked Sazu's cheek with his finger. "I think Gaara's really mad at me. I don't think I'm gonna survive for another half an hour." I walked over next to Ryu and sat down.

Slowly, Sazuko opened her eyes. "Uhh...what?" She sat up and rubbed her eyes. Then, she noticed me and her eyes flew open.

"Yes!" Ryu walked over to the chair and flopped into it. "Your turn to keep Gaara awake." He instantly fell asleep.

_Nice_, I thought. _Well, at least I have him off my back. _

Sazuko yawned. "So how are you? Did Shukaku appear yet?"

I sighed. "No he didn't." Sazuko got up and went upstairs. I followed her, thinking that that's what she wanted me to do. I followed her into her room. It was littered with clothes on the ground and everything, yet it looked clean.

Sazuko dug through her clothes on the ground and grabbed out one. She took off the shirt that she was wearing, and I instantly turned around. I felt myself blushing. Much as I wanted to look, I controlled myself. I didn't realized how much I liked her; I didn't know I could feel this of anyone!

I heard an embarrassed giggle coming from Sazuko. "You can turn around now." I saw that she had from her short sleeved shirt and short jeans to long sleeved pajamas.

I gave her a questioning look and she said, "It's going to be cold. I don't want to be freezing when I face Shukaku." I laughed, and took one of her blankets from her bed. She gently took the blanket from me and draped myself in it.

"You're going to need it as well," Sazuko said, smiling. I responded by blushing like an idiot. I think she likes me.

Sazuko POV

"You're going to need it as well," I said, smiling. Gaara responded by blushing. How cute. I don't think he's been loved before. I don't think he understands the difference between love and care. Love is when you want be the only person she cares about. Care is when she acts like she loves everyone.

I fell over onto my bed and sighed.

"Yeah?" Gaara asked gently. Woah. I don't think he's ever tried to talk softly since he came here. Then I forgot what I was going to say. So, I stood up and walked downstairs. Gaara followed me, as usual.

I sat down on the last step of the 16-stepped staircase. Gaara sat next to me and draped the blanket over both of us. I smiled and snuggled up to him. Hey, I can act like I like him sometimes. Actually, I'm not sure if I don't already.

"Thanks," I said, and put my head onto his shoulder. Once again, probably for the fifth time today, he blushed.

"Can you stop doing that?" I said, crossly. Yeah, I get instant mood changes easily. No, I'm not on my period.

"Sorry," Gaara said, emotionlessly, staring ahead of him, the blush gone from his pale cheeks. I think he's trying to match my mood changes. Good luck with that.

The next hour passed with silence between the two of us. I tried to sense if Shukaku was waking, or any sign of evilness inside him. I didn't want Gaara to be like my dad. I didn't want another person I cared about to die. Most of all, I didn't want it to be my fault. Again.

Gaara just sat there, staring ahead, doing nothing, sitting completely still, the whole time. How can he do that? I can't even sit still for ten minutes unless I'm concentrating hard.

"Where's Hirako? Shouldn't she be home a long time ago?" Gaara rasped. I guess not using your voice for a few hours does that to you.

"I don't know. She might've stayed over at Mitsuchi's again. It's not uncommon for her to do that." I looked at Gaara and saw that he still had this expressionless face on. Oh god.

I sighed. "I think I liked you better when you were blushing. This emotionlessness scares the living hell outta me." Trying to get him to loosen up, I put my arm around his waist. It worked.

"What are you doing?" Gaara practically screeched in a high voice. I mentally laughed.

"You're hilarious," I said, trying hard not to laugh out loud. In response, Gaara put his arm around my waist as well. Now it was my turn to blush.

Gaara smirked. "See? You acted the same." I sighed. Gotta hand it to him there. However, I kept my arm on his waist. So did he.

Since I was mentally and physically closer to him right now, I could sense his inner thoughts easier. I focused on one thing only. Shukaku. I gripped his waist tighter, and dug my nails into his stomach. Gaara groaned out in pain. (That just sounds wrong O.o)

That snapped me out of my thoughts. "What?" He glared down at me then jabbed at my arm that was around my waist. Whoops. I didn't realize that I was almost making him bleed. I removed my hand from his waist and put it on my lap. Gaara kept his on my waist though.

After a few more minutes, I gave up sitting. I stood up and shrugged the blanket off of me. Ow...my butt. It hurts. I needed exercise. Otherwise, I was going to turn into a rock.

I looked over to Gaara. "I'm going to teach you to fight. Be prepared, because I'm ruthless."

**Awesome, so there's some more love going on ^.^ Sorry that's the best I can do. Like I said, I'm not good at love stuff.**

**Next chapter, Gaara starts to learn a thing or two about controlling his sand.**

**Review please! Or I'm not going to write anymore...  
**


	25. Chapter 24

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. As some of you guys may have noticed, I'm updating my new story, The Unknown Sibling, less. That's cause I can't remember what happened in the Naruto timeline...  
**

Gaara POV

I followed Sazuko as she walked into the garage. I liked having her next to me, it makes me feel calmer. It also showed me what "love" was. It felt nice to be loved, as well as loving someone.

Sazuko opened the door to her garage and flipped on the lights. Cool. There were only a few objects, it was just like an extra room in the middle of nowhere.

Sazuko walked to the middle of the room and said, "Attack me." What? How?

"How?" I asked, unsure of what to do. I wish it was morning already.

Sazuko shrugged. "Just do what you think you should." She walked over and held up a chair and turned it into a pile of sand. Then, she changed a broomstick into some ninja stars, except these were made of metal. She walked over to me and said, "You can use any of these, all you have to do is get a scratch on me. You can use whatever tactic you want, I will only defend for now." Sazuko put her hand on my shoulder. "It'll be easier than you think. Just don't release Shukaku."

I nodded. Easier said than done. I held a ninja star and threw it at Sazuko. She instantly jumped back and dodged it. The battle was on.

_After around 20 minutes..._

Sazuko POV

I gasped for breath. He's good! Or maybe I just suck at this without using my skill.

I ducked as a bar of sand flew past my head. Gaara could already control the sand at his will skillfully, and Shukaku doesn't seem to have risen yet.

"Whoa!" I turned around and jumped as I felt some sand snake up from behind me.

"Damn!" Gaara cursed. "I thought I got you that time!"

I laughed. "Nice try, man. Do you want to stop?"

I looked over a the clock on the wall. It was nearly 5:30. School begins at 7:30.

"Actually, Gaara, I'm going to go take a shower. School's gonna start in two hours, and I have some stuff to do." I waved at Gaara and walked back into the house. "I'll count this as a tie, be ready for next time!"

"Sure," Gaara said casually. He followed me out, remembering to flip the lights off.

Gaara POV

Damn! That was close. I didn't want to hurt her, but I did want to pass.

"You wanna take a shower first?" Sazuko's gentle voice reached me.

"Sure," I shrugged and started to go into the bathroom. My hand was on the doorknob when someone said:

**"Kehehe...That wasn't bad at all..."**

What? Who was that?

**"Heh...I'm..."**

I grabbed Sazuko's arm without wanting to, hard. I mean, like when you're hanging on to life when you're at the edge of a cliff hard.

I felt myself grin evilly and say, **"Heh...it's been a long time since I've seen you...are you ready to face the demon, Shukaku, again?"**

Sazuko POV

"Gaara!" I whispered. "What happened?" I was confused. I didn't detect anything inside him when we were fighting, nor when I held onto his waist.

**"Did you honestly think I was just doing nothing after your father died?" **Gaara, no Shukaku, sneered.** "I was plotting, making sure that the next time I took control of someone you wouldn't find out what was happening! And thankfully, during your fight with Gaara, I know some of your moves now."**

Gaara looked absolutely frightening. His face was contorted into an evil smile and his hand was clawing into my arm. Half his face was covered with a layer of sand, and there were markings all over it. The side that was sand-covered had also changed his teeth into fangs. Did I forget to mention that he was drooling as well? At a time like this, I wish Ryu wasn't half dead, aka asleep.

**"This time, I'll make sure you won't run away..."**

Gaara POV

**"This time, I'll make sure you won't run away..."** I heard myself say. What was happening? My body was moving without my control, and I could see my reflection in the bathroom mirror. My face looked like a demon's. Ew.

_Shukaku! Get the hell outta here! I don't need you right now!_

**Oh, so that means you'll need me later, right?**

_No! I don't need you at all! And I won't let you hurt Sazuko either. I love her._

**"Ha!"** Shukaku said out loud. **"Sazuko, is it? You should hear this whining fool's thoughts!"** Shukaku used my body to pound Sazuko to the floor. She didn't try to fight back at all.** "He says he loves you! That makes me so sick..."** He threw a punch directly to Sazuko's stomach. She started coughing up blood.

_Shukaku! You'd better stop!_ I focused all of my energy to prevent Shukaku from doing further damage to my only friend.

Sazuko POV

He...loves me?

"Gaara..." I croaked out. "If you truly loved me, you would be stopping Shukaku!" I tried to glare, but I probably failed. I hope he gets the message though, that he's the only one that can stop Shukaku at this stage. If Shukaku didn't appear yet, I could have push him back, but now...

"What...do you...think...I'm doing?" Gaara said through gritted teeth. Yes, he's resisting Shukaku!

Much as I wanted to just keep lying down and give up, I painfully stood up and coughed out some more blood. I wrapped my arms around Gaara and whispered, "Come on, I believe in you..." He groaned out in pain from the personal battle he was facing. Right now, all I could do was give him support.

**Sorry about all the POV changes, I just thought it'd be easier for both of us to understand if I used different POVs.**

**Review please!**


	26. Chapter 25

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. As some of you guys may have noticed, I'm updating my new story, The Unknown Sibling, less and less. That's cause I can't remember what happened in the Naruto timeline...**

**So now we're back to where we left off...Gaara in half Shukaku mode, and Sazuko holding Gaara.  
**

Sazuko POV

Slowly, Gaara changed back to normal. One by one his demonic features disappeared and was replaced by his normal looks. Within a few minutes, Gaara was just as I remembered him, his dark red hair and teal eyes as beautiful as ever. And yes, in case you haven't realized yet, I do like him more than a friend. By a lot.

Gaara put his hands on my shoulders and looked at me in the eyes with a small smile. "Thanks...for being there with me..." He closed his eyes and held me in a hug.

"Gaara...I don't do hugs..." I looked up at his face, smiling. "But I'll allow it...just this once." I allowed him to hold me tighter. I was just really glad that he was still alive.

We stayed that way for a few seconds, until I heard a voice behind me.

"Whoa, Gaara! Kickin' it off already!"

I turned around, embarrassed that someone had caught us like that. Who would've guessed it was Kankuro and not Ryu?

Gaara let go of me and walked away. I could see that his face was nearly the color of his hair. I grabbed his wrist to stop him. He should face his own brother.

I looked at my watch. It was almost six in the morning.

"I'm going to wake everyone up," I said, smiling. "Gaara, you can deal with Kankuro yourself." I left to go upstairs. Yay, now I didn't have to answer any questions.

Gaara POV

It was nice of her to let me hug her, but that was cheap!

"Well..." I tried to look for a way out of answering his unspoken questions.

"It's not everyday I see you hugging someone! And then acting really awkward about it," Kankuro smirked. Then he turned serious.

"Sazuko doesn't hug anyone or let them hug her either. What happened while I was asleep?" Kankuro asked, hesitantly.

"It was the sand demon, Shukaku. It appeared after I was training with Sazuko." I looked away. I didn't want to admit how I lost control to anyone, especially not to Kankuro. "But everything's okay now, you don't have to pester me anymore." I walked away to sit on the ground in a corner and started to concentrate on Shukaku. Kankuro left me alone after that.

Sazuko POV

"And that's about it," I explained to Shikamaru and Temari. I had just finished telling them what happened to Gaara.

"Why didn't you wake me up?" Temari exclaimed. "I should have been there as his sister..."

I put my hand on her shoulder. "You would've just gotten killed by Shukaku." I paused to cough some blood. I hadn't recovered from Shukaku's attack yet.

"Are you okay?" Temari started acting like an overprotective mother.

"I'm fine!" I glared. "It's nothing, it could have been worse."

Shikamaru sighed. "You could have destroyed Shukaku easily, couldn't you? But that would mean that Gaara would've been severely damaged. And you didn't want that." He scratched his head. "Troublesome."

Temari looked at me with wide eyes. I don't think she knows the full extent of my power. In fact, I don't think she even knows what my power is.

"I can changed anything into anything I want. I could have turned Shukaku into a pile of mush, but I wasn't sure what would happen to Gaara. He's Shukaku's host now, and if I destroyed Shukaku, Gaara might have died with him." I looked away.

"Thanks Sazuko..." Temari whispered softly. "Thanks for saving my brother from the demon." I was surprised.

"I didn't do anything, it was all Gaara's work. In fact, I was pretty much useless." I look down at my hands. "I couldn't do anything, I didn't even sense Shukaku stirring in Gaara! He had to suffer so much because of me..." I felt some tears fall onto my hands. What would have happened if Gaara didn't stop Shukaku? He might've died, and it would've been my fault again. "I couldn't save my dad from Shukaku either..."

Temari pulled me close to her and Shikamaru patted my back.

"But everything worked out fine, didn't it?" Temari said gently. "You might think you didn't do anything, but I know that because you were there, Gaara was able to pull through to the end." I let Temari pull me into a hug. Man, I think I'm getting used to those phony things.

Kankuro POV

What had happened? And why isn't Gaara telling me anything about it? He knows that this is important, it could be deciding all of our futures.

I walked over and shook Sakura awake. "Hey, it's morning, you need to wake up."

Slowly, Sakura opened her eyes. "Huh...?"

I smiled. Gaara may be into Sazuko, but Sakura was ten times prettier. Well, to me at least.

"Hey, cutie, ya finally awake?" I said, trying to flirt. Sakura didn't really care. "Yeah, I'm awake. Get your face away from mine please. It's too close."

Gaara POV

I sighed, then stood up to go upstairs. I looked into the first door on the left of second floor, and saw Temari, Shikamaru, and Sazuko. Sazuko was crying, Temari was holding her, and Shikamaru was sitting on the floor looking up at the ceiling, thinking.

"Gaara!" Shikamaru looked up at me. "I need to talk to you." I shrugged and let Shikamaru guide me to another room.

"What happened exactly? What did Shukaku do to you?" Shikamaru grabbed my shoulders. "Sazuko doesn't know or wouldn't tell us, so I need to get this information from you."

I looked away from his fierce stare. "I don't know."

Shikamaru sighed. "You should. I'm this close to knowing how Shukaku is thinking. All I need is what Shukaku was doing before he took complete control of you. Did you feel like hurting Sazuko before that?"

My thoughts flew back to when I was holding Sazuko on the waist on the staircase. I had stayed in that position for an hour, doing nothing, but I think I've felt some urges to kill from Shukaku. "I think I've had some killing urges, but I've been sending people to the hospital before I activated my skill. So I thought it was nothing."

Shikamaru nodded slowly. I could almost see the wheels turning in his head. "That's a great help, Gaara. I think you should go talk to Sazuko now. She's really upset."

I nodded, and then we both left to go back to Temari and Sazuko.

Sazuko POV

Temari held me tighter in her arms. It was nice of her to give me comfort like that.

"Thanks, Tem," I said, then looked up as I felt Gaara walk in. Yes, I am awesome like that. I can feel people walk in. I tried to blink my tears away.

"Hey, Gaara." I tried to smile but failed. I looked at Temari, saying that I wanted some time alone with Gaara. She nodded and left to talk with Shikamaru.

Gaara sat next to me on the bed. "What?"

I gave him a surprised look. "What do you mean, what?"

"What were you crying about? Is it because of Shukaku, or me...?" Gaara took my hand and held it in his. I smiled gently.

"I was just worried...I wasn't sure what I would do if I had to face Shukaku again. I know that if I want Shukaku to go away forever, I'd have to kill you as well. And I can't do that." I squeezed his hand.

"Sazuko...do you like me any more than a friend?" Gaara asked softly. He stared straight into a wall. "Because I really like you."

**I made this chapter too long...ugh. Now I need to think for a week or something. Therefore, the next chapter may not be out soon. But then again, that's what I said about the last 5 chapters or something :P**

**Review please! **


	27. Chapter 26

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I just wanna apologize ahead of time for the time skip in this chapter.  
**

Gaara POV

I forced myself not to leave. I had to know.

"Gaara..." Sazuko smiled. "What kind of question is that?"

I hesitated. "I was just wondering if you liked me more than a friend," I repeated.

**What do you want her to say? **came Shukaku's bored voice from inside my head. **Knowing won't change anything. I'll still kill her the next time I get a chance.**

_Shut up!_

**All right, but don't look to me for comfort if she rejects you.**

_You'd be the last person I would wanna talk to._

Sazuko grimaced. "Is this Shukaku, or Gaara? Cause the Gaara I know would never ask me something like that."

**Ha! Hahahahahahaha! Rejected!**

_Shut up, you!_

Sazuko POV

Gaara had a pained look in his eyes. Did I just insult him or something? All I asked if this was Shukaku or Gaara...Well, I was kinda surprised by the sudden awkward question, so that might've slipped out...

"Sorry, Gaara. But I just need to know." I stared at him straight in the eyes. I was actually kinda surprise he even needed to ask if I liked him. Of course I did."I wouldn't give up my love life for Shukaku, who could be pretending to be you."

I stood up and walked away. "Stay here today. I don't think I want Shukaku running rampage on the school. Besides, you need to recover."

"Yeah...sure..." Gaara trailed off. "Sorry about the question."

**_Okay, so now there's a time skip to when it's like a week later. Nothing big had happened, Shukaku didn't kill anyone. Gaara and Shukaku are like on a neutral relationship, arguing with each other at times, but they understand each other better._**

Sazuko POV

Nothing had happened in the week Gaara stayed at my house the whole time. Principal Tsunade knew of the situation and had allowed him to skip school, but only if he made it up was fine, aside from a few times he went to go outside alone. But hey, he's a boy, I'm a girl, I don't get into his private time and he doesn't get into mine.

Temari and Kankuro came over a few times, but mostly to give him homework or check up on him. Ryu came over everyday after school, and he and I would switch shifts on Gaara.

So now, here I was, minding my own business in my room when Gaara comes into it.

"Yo." That's become my normal greeting to him. He nodded and sat next to me. It's not that I don't like it, but I really wished he'd ask before coming in.

I was working on a little gift for Ryu, since he's been helping me babysit Gaara this whole week. It's supposed to be this little viola statue thingy.

"Can I go outside today? Like outside the neighborhood?" Gaara asked hesitantly. I looked up in surprise. He usually doesn't ask me for permission so...

"Why are you asking me?" I asked. Gaara looked away for a second, then switches his gaze back up at me. His teal eyes were straightforward when he said, "I want you to come with me."

"To where...?" I made a gesture with my hands, motioning for him to continue. Gaara gets a faint blush on his face, but he continued, "I want to show you where I like. I feel kinda bad since I've been staying with you for a week..."

I shrug. Why not? I haven't been outside for a week, except for an occasional walk around the neighborhood. "Fine. Just let me write a note so that Hirako won't worry about where I've gone."

I took out a piece of paper and wrote:

**Gone to Gaara's house. Will be back tomorrow morning. DO NOT DESTROY THE HOUSE!** **If you want, go to Mitsuchi's. Or call her over. Don't give a damn either way.**

**-Sazu**

Gaara was looking over my shoulder the whole time. "Let's go."

Kankuro POV

Sigh...School was so boring.

I rolled my head onto my other arm. Right now, I was in Chemistry, watching a damn video that's about our damn lab tomorrow that I don't give a damn about.

I looked over at Sakura. I was going to go to her house after school, to see if I could control objects other than puppets.

I sighed out loud. I wish school was over already...

"What's wrong?" Sakura asked me. That's nice of her to care.

"Nothing, I just wanna get this over with right now..."

Sakura smiled. Aww...so cute. "So am I. Training with a cute guy is so much more fun than this." She giggled. I mentally fainted. Either she fangirls every guy she meets, or she likes me. I'm pretty sure it's the latter.

"Students in the back, no talking during the video. Or everyone takes notes," came our teacher's stern voice. Everyone turned to glare at us. Whoops.

Temari POV

"Hey, Shika, help me out on this," I ordered. This English thing is hard. "What's the difference between lay and lie?"

"Lay is a transitive verb, lie is intransitive." Shikamaru sighed. "If you look at page 76 of your grammar textbook, you'd see the explanation on 'lay' and 'lie'. Troublesome." He sighed again.

"Well, excuse me for asking!" I huffed crossly and went back to my book. Then I remembered something. "Oh, Shika, don't forget, I'm coming to your house after school."

"Hunh?" Shikamaru looked up at imaginary clouds on the ceiling. "Oh yeah...I remember..." Shikamaru then went back to sleeping.

"I'm coming too!" Choji said, while munching on chips.

**I'm gonna stop here. If there's questions, ask now before I get too into the story :P**

**If you have suggestions for what Gaara, Sazuko, Temari, Shikamaru, Kankuro, Sakura, and Choji do besides train at their houses, TELL ME! I'm fucking desperate for ideas...**

**Review!**


	28. Chapter 27

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. This will probably most likely be a Temari or Kankuro chapter. **

**There's also some Sasori POV, since I'm watching Sasori vs Sakura on VizAnime :D Btw, I do not own Mr. Ukki-kun ^.^  
**

Temari POV

"Shika! Are we there yet?" I whined. He and I were on our way to his house. Choji had to ditch because his math teacher had to hold him back to retake the Algebra test. Shika's house was near Sazuko's, so we were walking there. Right now, we were in Sazuko's neighborhood. However, he walked past every house close to her's.

"I told you...a few more minutes! Sheesh. What a troublesome woman." Shikamaru sighed and put his arms behind his head. I smirked. Ticking people off is fun.

"So how are you going to teach me how to use my power?" I asked, trying to get him to talk, as in a real conversation.

"I'll think of something...maybe after a nap..."

I responded by punching his stomach. "What the hell was that for?"

After walking in silence for a few more seconds, Shikamaru finally stopped.

"This is my house."

Kankuro POV

"So where are we?" I had biked with Sakura to her house. Well, actually, she was biking, I was jogging next to her. Hey, it may not seem like it, but I'm a pretty fast runner.

"My house. It's right here..." Sakura stopped her bike. "Here." She tossed me her house keys. "Open the door yourself, I have to drag the bike into the garage first." She turned away and walked towards the back of her house. I turned and faced her house.

Sasori POV

"Hell yeah!" I heard Deidara scream. Right now, we were on the road to Sazuko's house. Since she was in California, and we were in Nevada, this was going to be an all-nighter for us. Us meaning me, Deidara, Tobi, and Zetsu. By the way, it was nearly five at night. It'd probably take six hours to get to where Sazuko lived, which meant that it'd be well into the night when we get to Sazuko's place.

"Shut up, Deidara!" I yelled, pissed. Having someone yell in your ear when you're trying to drive is not good.

Deidara crossed his arms and hmphed. "You just don't know how to have fun, Sasori!"

"Yeah right! Who was it that suggested we go to Sazu's?" I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, and who was it that said we should graffiti our teachers car?"

"And who got in trouble for that?"

"And who-"

"Shut up, you guys!" Zetsu yelled. "My plant is trying to grow in peace!" He held up his potted plant, Mr. Ukki. (Remember? That's Kishimoto-san's plant!)

Deidara and I glared at each other. This isn't over yet, his eyes said. Any time this year would be cool, I replied, with my eyes.

"Zetsu! Let me see your plant!" Tobi giggled as he reached for Mr. Ukki. I swear, he needs to toughen up. He acts like a six year old! But I guess he could get serious sometimes. Like when we're in a fight. He is good at surprising people.

Zetsu and Tobi were fighting over Mr. Ukki. I saw all this throw the mirror on the car. I sighed out loud. This was going to be a long trip.

**This one was really really short. Sorry about that, readers. I just need some time to think.**

**IT'S SUMMER BREAK! YAY! I will probably be updating more now, since I have more time on my hands.**

**Please review! It encourages me to write when I read it! ^.^**


	29. Chapter 28

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. **

**I just realized that some people don't like the beginning of this story. I know that already, cause I was unsure about how to start it. I might rewrite, but I need to think about the rest of this story first...I hope I'm improving my writing though! :D**

Gaara POV

Sazuko yawned next to me. It was almost night and my room had already been cleaned and set up.

"Hey, Gaara, is this the only reason you invited me here?" Sazuko sighed. "That was the most tiring thing I've ever done. I don't even work this hard to clean my room! And you being picky about where everything goes doesn't help either! And also-"

"I get it!" I yelled to stop her rant. "To make it up to you, I'll take you out to dinner, okay?"

**Hahaha, what, you're going to admit your love for her there? Then get married? And then have little versions of yourselves running around?**

_Shukaku, do me a favor and don't do anything for just three hours. Alright? Just three hours. Then you can annoy me all you want.  
_

**Fine. But you still owe me.**

"Really? You will?" Sazuko exclaimed. "Yay!" She jumped up and down like a little kid.

I sighed. "Let's go." I grabbed two jackets from my new closet. I threw the smaller one to Sazu, since she was a lot smaller than me. I threw on the other one and took Sazuko's hand.

Sazuko POV

"Where are we going?" I asked as we exited the door.

"I dunno. I guess we'll just walk around until we find a good place to stop?" Gaara locked the house door. "That alright with you?"

I shrugged. "Sure. So it's a date?" I'm just really natural like that. I can stay stuff that people would usually avoid saying without batting an eye.

Gaara turned red like his hair. "N-no..."

I laughed. "If that's how you want to think about it, go ahead. But I'm thinking about it as a date." Gaara and I walked in silence after that. However, he still held on to my hand. I hope he's paying.

Sasori POV

"Right. Deidara, you take the car. Stop after two hours or so." I yawned. We were at a gas station, taking a break. We were almost halfway to Sazu's place.

"Sure thing," Deidara replied swiftly. "Who's taking the next shift?"

"Me. I don't trust Tobi with the car. Zetsu would be keeping an eye on his plant, so he's outta the picture as well." I switched seats with Deidara. "Let her rip, Dei."

Temari POV

"Your house is...nice," I commented to Shikamaru. "It's pretty decent." His house was really big, bigger than Sazuko's. There were lots of room to move around, and there were three floors.

"Thanks." Shikamaru opened the back door and led me outside to his backyard. Like his house, it was pretty big as well.

"First, I'm going to see how you use wind. For example...do you need a weapon? Or can you just use your hand or something?" Shikamaru was right. I do need to know how I exert my power.

"Try using your hand. See if anything comes out of it," Shikamaru directed.

I held out my right hand and focused on it. I imagined wind drifting through it, but I couldn't feel anything.

"All right..." Shikamaru dragged out. "I guess you'll need a weapon then." He left to go back inside his house.

"Right." I followed him, no clue of what he was going to do. He walked to a phone and dialed a number.

"Hey, Sazu, I need a favor. Give me a big fan for Temari. Thanks." He hung up. "She wasn't home, so I left a message," he explained.

"Sure. So you want me to leave?" I didn't really want to leave, Shikamaru is really smart he was kinda cool in his own way.

"Stay if you want. If you left, I'd have to walk you home. That's what guys are supposed to do." Shikamaru shrugged. See what I meant by "cool in his own way"? He has his own set of rules of how guys should act to girls. Like girls aren't supposed to defend guys, it's the other way around.

"Mind if I stay then?" I asked. Even if he refused, I'm staying.

"Sure," Shikamaru replied, eyes widening a tad.

Kankuro POV

"Right." Sakura walked over to a drawer and grabbed out some mini puppets. "I spent all week making these, so don't break it. Let's see how well you can control them."

I rolled up my sleeves. I hope this works quickly. I held out my right arm and imagined my fingers extending strings onto one of the puppet's legs and arms. Then I flicked my index finger up. The puppet's right arm jerked up, then fell down. I curled up my fingers into a fist and the puppet rolled into a ball.

"Nice," Sakura commented. "Let's see if you can move...that chair." She pointed towards a small wooden chair next to her.

"Sure." I shrugged off the invisible strings attaching to the puppet. It instantly went lifeless. Then I imagined the strings attaching to the chair. I jerked my whole hand up, and the chair flew up and landed on top of Sakura.

"Sorry," I said, laughing. Sakura glared, then softened up and laughed as well. "That was pretty funny."

"Yeah," I gasped out, still laughing. "Can I try to attach my puppet strings onto you?"

Sakura suddenly stopped laughing and glared at me. "Sure, but you'd better not try anything dirty."

I stopped laughing as well. "I won't." I slipped the strings onto Sakura. I made her walk and lift her arms up and stuff like that. After a few minutes, I let go.

"Not bad, eh?" I smirked.

"Sure," she replied. "That wasn't too bad. You wanna stay here for the night? It's getting late so it might not be safe for you to go home alone."

I hesitated. "Gaara...he might destroy the house or something."

"I'll give Sazu a call then. She can keep an eye on him or something."

Sazuko POV

Gaara and I were at a sorta fancy restaurant. It wasn't that bad, I think it's called Olive Garden or something.

Suddenly my phone rang. "Sorry, Gaara." I picked up the phone.

**"Hey Sazuko, this is Sakura!"**

"Yeah?" I replied. "What's wrong?"

**"Nothing, I was just wondering, is Gaara close by right now?"**

"Yeah, he's next to me. Why?"

**"Kankuro wants to talk to him."**

"Sure. Give Kankuro the phone." I handed Gaara my phone. "Kankuro wants to talk with you."

Gaara POV

I took the phone from Sazuko's hand and held it up to my ear.

"What?" I said aggressively.

"N-nothing...Just don't let Shukaku out and kill everyone, okay? Like last year, at school, even without Shukaku, you almost ki-"

I instantly hung up. Why would he tell me that? He knows I would never hurt anyone with Sazuko around.

"What happened?" Sazuko asked, curious. I shook my head. "Nothing important."

Sazuko gave me a doubtful look. "Riiight. And you're going to get hit by a knife in less than three seconds." With lightning speed, Sazuko threw the knife at my throat. Luckily, my training didn't fail me. I instinctively caught it.

"What the hell? That's dangerous you know!" I was pissed. That was risky to do in public, as well as in the house. She should've known better.

"Sorry," Sazuko giggled. "I just forgot how bad at lying you were."

I handed her back her knife. "Don't throw it again. We could get kicked out."

"Only if you tell me what made you mad. Except for the fact that I threw the knife at you." Sazuko folded her arms. "Okay?"

I sighed. "It's not important. You don't need to know." She didn't need to know that I nearly killed a few people at my last school.

Sazuko raised an eyebrow. "Really, then." I gave her a hard stare, telling her that I wasn't going reveal anything to her. She sighed and gave up after that. "Just don't let Shukaku out."

**Sorry about not uploading, I was too lazy :P This was a long chapter though, hope I made it up to you guys ^.^**

**Review please! Thanks for all the reviews I've gotten :D  
**


	30. Chapter 29

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. **

**I'm going to skip ahead to the next morning. Um...Shukaku's gonna control Gaara again this chapter, and there is a semi-rape. I'll mark it so you can skip it if you want...  
**

Sazuko POV**  
**

_"Hey, Sazu, I need a favor. Give me a big fan for Temari. Thanks." _Shikamaru's voice played through the voice messaging. I thought for a few seconds, then took action.

"Hey, Gaara!" I yelled upstairs. I think he was in the guest room, washing up. "Are you done yet?"

A frosty silence met my question. I sighed. He needs an attitude change. I stomped up the stairs into the guest room and saw Gaara sitting on a chair, glaring holes into a wall.

"Hm?" He feigned ignorance when I walked up to him. "Did something happen?"

I sighed. "I just yelled your and you just ignored me. Do YOU think something is wrong?"

"No." He smirked. I glared daggers at him. "I'm leaving, so you have to come with me."

Gaara sighed. Since the Shukaku could come out at any day, I didn't think it was safe for him to be alone. Therefore, I suggested that he should stay at my side at all times.

He stood up from his chair. "Where are we going?"

"The mall," I stated simply.

Gaara POV

What the hell? I thought she hated malls...huh.

"I thought you didn't like shopping." I gave Sazuko a hard stare.

"I don't." She made a face. "But I have to. I need materials to make a giant fan for Temari. Cause everything has to be exactly right."

I sighed once again. I just wanted to sit down and stare at nothing for hours. Oh, and think about random stuff during that time.

Sazuko grabbed my hand. "Let's go." She smiled gently. She's cute when she does that.

**...That's what you think. I bet there's ton more ladies who's a lot cuter than her. And bigger chested.  
**

_For the billionth time this week, shut up._

**And why should I? I don't owe you anything! In fact, I like torturing you. I don't think I'm going to stop.**

_Bitch. _**  
**

"Umm...Gaara?" Sazuko's voice reached me through my argument with Shukaku.

"What?" I growled out. Shukaku was still rambling on about random crap.

"Are you feeling okay?" she asked worriedly. "You're sweating. And you're also gritting your teeth really hard. Is it Shukaku?" Sazuko added, after a short pause.

I nodded. "Yeah." Abruptly, I pulled Sazuko out of the room. "Can we leave now?"

"S-sure..." Sazuko said, hesitantly.

**...and that is why you shouldn't stay around people like her!**

_..._

_...you were saying?_

**GRRR...Let's see how humorous you are when your loved one is in danger from...  
**

Shukaku suddenly erupted from me, without warning. I guess he was really pissed from that.

Sazuko POV

"Gaara! Dammit, you should've known how to control Shukaku!" I jumped back as Gaara/Shukaku took a swipe at me. Luckily, Shukaku only controlled Gaara's body, his features haven't changed yet.

"Shit! How could you?" I grabbed Gaara's arms. "What's your problem? I thought you could control Shukaku already! And you could've trusted me enough to tell me that Shukaku was waking inside of you!" I tried to flip him over, but he was too heavy.

**"Shut up, bitch!" **Gaara growled. **"Your whining is annoying."**

"Make me!" I shot back. I aimed a hard punch at Gaara's shoulder. He ducked, and pinned my wrists to the wall.

_**-Semi-rape starts here-**_

"What the hell!" I tried to get my wrists out of his grip, but his grip was tight. Gaara suddenly push his mouth to mine, forcing me into a kiss.

"Nnn...Gaara...stop!" I tried to form the words but failed. Gaara's tongue pushed mine back and his hands reached for my pants. My eyes widened. I mentally cursed like mad. My wrists were free though. I reached for Gaara's arms, but his new found power with sand forced my hands back.

Soon, Gaara was reaching for my shirt. Since it had buttons on the front, Gaara easily ripped it off. He released me from his brutal kiss and attacked my chest.

"Fuck!" I yelled. I aimed a kick at his stomach, but his sand blocked it. I tried to think of ways to get out of this mess. If I could reach my phone with my foot, I could call Ryu or Temari. Then they could come...Damn, but that's risky. I can't put in their phone number with my foot! I'd probably mess up and call some random guy. And I bet he could trace the phone call to my house...

While I was thinking, Gaara had taken off my undergarments. His hand reached towards my private area and he stuck a finger in. I yelped in pain.

"Gaara!" I screeched. "Control Shukaku! Dammit, I don't wanna be raped! Not by you or anyone else!"

**_-Ends here-_**

Shukaku POV

**This bitch is annoying.**

_Don't talk about her like that! Dammit, stop it!_

I ignored him. **I haven't seen so much blood since the time I murdered Sazuko's parents.**

_You son of a-! _Gaara wrestled me for control of his body. Well, I think I've had enough fun for a long time. I guess I'll let him go now._  
_

Sazuko POV

Fuck, this hurts! I tried to black myself out, but failed. I focused my mental energy into my wrists to break free of the sand cuffs. That allowed my right hand to be free. With it, I slapped Gaara in the face. He backed away from me, his fingers dripping with my blood. Ewww...

I waited, ready to attack if Gaara made a move. However, he didn't do anything, he just looked away from me.

"Gaara?" I asked hesitantly, unsure if Shukaku was still possessing him. "Are you okay now?" I tried to cover my private places.

"...I'm sorry..." Gaara whispered. "I didn't mean to, I swear." I slowly stood up, facing away from Gaara. "Please don't do it again."

**I wonder what's going to happen to Gaara and Sazuko's relationship! When is Sasori and his gang gonna arrive? How are Temari and Kankuro's training coming along? All these questions will be answered in the next chapter!**

**LOL Just felt like doing that XD**

**Please review! Oh, and I think I want a new title for this story :D Any suggestions?  
**


	31. Chapter 30

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Sorry if the characters are a bit OOC. :P**

**Oh, and sorry I forgot about Hidan and Kazuku...T.T Pretend that Hidan and Kazuku are still with Itachi? Please?**

**Many thanks to madin456 for an idea for the title :D if anyone else has an idea, please tell me!  
**

Deidara POV

"This is her house, right, un...?" I glanced at Sasori. He had the directions, he should know.

"Think so." Sasori went up to the door and tested out the doorknob, since Sazuko almost never locks the door. If it's open, that means it's Sazu's house.

The door opened. "Yup, this is Sazu's house, un." I walked in and screamed, "Sazuko! Ya here?"

Sazuko POV

"Sazuko! Ya here?" I heard Deidara's voice from downstairs.

"Uhh..." I trailed off. Yes or no? Go down half naked or make them wait?

I turned my head over at Gaara. "Cover for me. Go down to Deidara."

"Who's Deidara?" Gaara asked, confused. I sighed. "Just go. I need to get dressed, thanks to Shukaku." I hope he noticed that I said Shukaku instead of Gaara. Just showing that I'm forgiving him.

Gaara nodded slowly, and went downstairs to delay Deidara. As soon as he left, I grabbed a full set of clothes from my closet and started to get changed.

Gaara POV

"Who are you guys?" I asked, without preamble. I'm not good at being friendly. I faced the long-haired blonde. "Are you Sasori?"

"No." The blonde jerked a finger at the redhead next to him. "That's Sasori, un."

He looked a lot like me, except with brownish eyes. If someone saw Sasori and me walking together, they'd think we were brothers or something.

"Hello," Sasori said pleasantly. "Where's Sazuko? I wasn't aware that her boyfriend stays at her house!"

I growled. I remembered that Sazuko told me to pretend to be her boyfriend and I agreed to it.

"Right..." I trailed off. "Introduce yourselves."

"I'm Sasori," Sasori said, pointing at each person as he spoke. "This is Deidara, Zetsu, and Tobi."

The one called Tobi struck a peace sign. "Tobi is a good boy!"

"..." Do college people really act that way? "R-right."

"Where's Sazuko?" Sasori asked. "She is here, isn't she?"

Uh...no? yes?

"Yup!" I was saved by Sazuko herself. "Ya finally got here, eh Sasori!"

Sasori POV

I walked over to Sazuko and patted her back. "How are you?"

"I'm fine." She laughed. She paused and looked over at the other redhead. "Ya know who he is, right?"

"I don't think so..." I think she might have mention his name during the phone call, but I don't think I can remember. "So who is he?"

"Gaara." I love demon? What a weird name. What kind of parents named him that?

"Sure. Care to show me around?" I took Sazuko's hand. This made Gaara tighten his fist.

"Ya gonna be coming with us, Gaara?" Sazuko waved at Gaara with her free hand. The redhead shrugged. "Why not?" Gaara followed us as we exited the house.

"Stay here." I gestured to my friends. They nodded.

"He actually doesn't seem that bad," I whispered in Sazuko's ear. She giggled. "He's not!"

I smiled. He was kind of protective, which is what I've told Sazuko over and over. Find a nice, protective, smart, and of course, good looking, boyfriend. Gaara seemed to fit the protective part, but I wasn't so sure about nice yet.

"So Gaara, how long have you known Sazuko?" I asked casually over my shoulder.

"Two weeks." Gaara quickened his pace to match mine. He crossed his arms. "Why?"

"Nothing," I said, while staring straight ahead. I think I felt Sazuko's glare, but I was probably just imagining things.

"So what do you do in your free time?" Asking stuff like this could actually reveal a lot about someone's character.

"Nothing."

"What do you like to do?"

"Nothing."

"Do you read a lot?"

"No."

"What are your school grades?"

"Don't know, don't care."

"How often do you clean your room?"

At this point, Gaara glared at me. "Shut up, will you? You're a pain in the ass!"

I was taken aback. Never expected him to snap like that.

"Heh..." I smirked. "I can understand why you're Sazuko's boyfriend now. Both of you snap easily. You have some anger management problems as well." I looked down on Sazuko. "Good choice."

Sazuko POV

"Um...thanks?" I tried a smile. I think I should stop fooling Sasori now.

"Eh...Sasori. I think you should know, Gaara really isn't my boyfriend. It was just a joke." I forced myself to look into Sasori's eyes.

His eyes widened. "Really? But I still think you guys are perfect for each other."

"S-sure..." Now I looked away. "Oh!" I just remembered something. "You can still use your puppet mastery, right?"

"Yeah, why?" Sasori asked casually.

"Gaara's brother, Kankuro, also has the puppet skill. Would you mind teaching him?" I pleaded. I think with Sasori, Kankuro would have a better chance at learning this. I mean, Sakura only has huge strength. I don't think that'll help with the puppets much. And Kiba could communicate with animals. No help there either.

"How good is he?" Sasori continued. "How long has he used this skill?"

"A few weeks. I think he's pretty used to it, but he just needs to work on longer distance and time." I had called Sakura and Shikamaru yesterday and asked for how well Gaara's siblings were at their skill. Shikamaru said that all he needed was a weapon for Temari. Sakura said that Kankuro was pretty good at it. As for Gaara, he had pretty good control over his sand and could already form all types of weapons, long range and short range. His attacks included sand bullets and various melee weapons such as pikes and daggers.

Sasori nodded. "I guess I'll help him...what kind of objects can he control? Can Kankuro control anything other than puppets?"

"Uh...I think you should ask him yourself." I took out my phone from my back pocket. "I think I have his number..."

Sasori took it and went off somewhere. Now, I was alone with Gaara. I tried a smile to loosen him up. As usual, it failed. He remained stony-faced.

I sighed. "Okay, what's wrong? Is it something I did?"

"Why'd you invite them over?" Gaara shot immediately. Sea green met fire red.

"Cause they're my friends!" I held up my hands, exasperated. "Is there something wrong with inviting friends over when you're bored?" Notice the second person usage.

"I don't really like them." Gaara turned away. I sighed and walked over to him, and then put a hand on his shoulder. That jot him out of his thoughts.

"They're only gonna be here for a few days. If you can't stand them for just half a week, then go home!" Okay, that may have sounded pretty harsh, but Sasori and his gang were pretty cool if you got to know them better. I just don't get why he hated them at much.

"Maybe I will." Gaara glared at me.

**Sorry for the delay :| I was busy.**

**Review please?**


	32. Chapter 31

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. **

**Sorry if Sasori's a bit more talkative here than in the anime...  
**

Sazuko POV

Wha? My jaw dropped open. That doesn't sound like something the Gaara I know would say.

"What do you mean, maybe you will?" I gasped. "Why?"

Luckily for that bastard, Sasori came back.

"Hey. I'm going to be checking to see how well Kankuro is doing with his puppets. Hopefully, he's at least half as good as I am right now. I don't want to waste my time on a beginner." He raised his hand to his forehead and brushed it through his hair. "I don't like to waste time, ya know?"

"Right." I pointed at Gaara. "This asshole's gonna be leaving as well, so why don't you guys leave for his house now? I'll go buy some stuff from the local mall and meet up with you guys later." Apparently I took some major offense from Gaara's comment.

Sasori raised an eyebrow. "Sure..." He grabbed at Gaara's elbow to pull him, but he slapped him away.

"I can walk on my own," Gaara growled. He stomped back the way we came from.

"What's up with him?" Sasori asked.

"I dunno."

"Was it my fault? Was he thinking that I was going to steal you from him?"

What the hell?

"No! He's not my boyfriend! He's just a friend." But now that I think about it...He does get protective around me sometimes. Maybe Sasori's right...nawh.

"Whatever. I'll just go ask him. See ya!" With that, both Gaara and Sasori left me alone. Great.

Gaara POV

I stuck my hands into my pocket. Damn that Sasori. Why did he have to come anyways? I'd've been fine without him and his gang. The Akatsuki, was it?

I continued on the path back to my house. I could feel Sasori slowly closing the distance between us. Soon, Sasori was walking right next to me.

"You really like Sazuko, don't you?" Sasori asked. Where in hell did that come from?

"Why?" I replied, neither confirming nor denying his question.

Sasori shrugged. "I dunno. Just wondered. So do you or do you not?"

I chose my words carefully. "I do, as a friend. But no more than that." That was a bit of a lie, of course. I knew I already liked her a bit more than a friend. She's given me attention that my family has never bothered to give. Hell, she was practically like a sister to me. Well, a sister that I could at least trust a bit more than Temari.

Sasori gave me a slight glance from the corner of his eye. "All right then. So where is your house?"

"Just shut up and keep following me."

"I hope you won't waste time getting there. I'm a busy man."

"Whatever. Just shut up."

He did.

Kankuro POV

I flipped my phone shut. This was great, a real master at puppets was going to teach me! I was almost bouncing around the lunch grounds in excitement.

"Who called?" Sakura asked. Apparently she noticed my joy.

"Do you know someone called Sasori?" I went right to the point.

"Yeah, why? Is the one who called you?"

"Yup! He said he was going to teach me how to use my puppets better. After school."

"Oh." For some reason, Sakura looked downcast.

"What's wrong?" I asked. If it was something I could do for her, I would.

Sakura POV

Over the last few weeks I knew him, he was a real friend to me. He was smarter than Ino, a bit less talkative, and hell good a friend when I was in trouble. Already, I had feelings for him. That's why I was kind of glad to hear that he was worried. But if he was going to learn from Sasori, then I had no reason to talk with him anymore. Or invite him to my house.

"I guess you won't need me anymore, huh? Cause you have a real puppet master to teach you." I attempted a smile, but I guess it seemed depressing to him because he said, "No, Sakura. It doesn't matter if he's going to teach me, I'd still like to spar with you!" He put his hands onto my shoulders, making me blush a bit. "Besides, it'd be a good way for you to practice for the school war. Wouldn't want you to lose because of lack of practice, would we?" He grinned.

I smiled. "Thanks, Kankuro." I wrapped my arms around his waist for a quick second before letting go.

Kankuro POV

I think I'm going to faint. The girl of my dreams is hugging me! I could stay in this position forever. But, all good things must come to an end.

Temari POV

Sigh. Science class. The class of nightmares. The devil's lair. The place of death and decay. I put my head into my arms. What use will science be anyways, when you have enough power to control the elements?

"Temari, would you like to us the difference between nuclear fission and nuclear fusion?" Jiraiya, the science teacher asked.

_No, I wouldn't._ "Nuclear fission is the process used in the production of nuclear power. Fission involves splitting the nucleus of a heavy atom, such as uranium. Fusion, on the other hand, is the combination of two hydrogen nuclei into one helium nucleus, under conditions of extreme heat and pressure." I recited from the science book in front of me.

"Good." Jiraiya said, then went to torture some other student.

"Shikamaru, how is long is Sazuko going to take to make a fan for me?" I whispered. "You said that she could just change one object into another."

"Well, I don't know for sure, but I believe she's making one from scratch. She's said that making long-lasting weapons requires greater skill, similar to adding hidden weapons inside it. When she makes a weapon, she doesn't know how it works. So Sazuko can just make a fan, but with no idea how to operate it." Shikamaru sighed. "Troublesome, but true."

I blinked. "Wow. I didn't know you knew so much about her skill."

"Well, at the fight at the end of the year, you get to watch everyone fight, so their skill is revealed. Also, Sazuko's told me about it before." Shikamaru suddenly finger to his lips.

"_Teacher,_" he mouthed. I turned my attention away from him and began to read my textbook.

**Okay, I hope that answered some questions of why Sazuko can't just create a fan outta scratch. Took me a while to think of this, but I think it works pretty well, eh?**

**I hope I expressed Sasori's nature better, I haven't watched him in action in a long time T.T**

**Review please!**


	33. Chapter 32

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. **

**I don't know what the Fourth Kazekage's name was, so I'll just call him "the father" ^.^  
**

Gaara POV

I pushed open the door to my house. Sasori was behind me.

Without a call or anything, I walked into the house and took off my shoes.

"Gaara, how many times have I told you to knock before opening the door? And to call out before coming in?" my father scolded me before suddenly changing the topic. "My my, who is this other guy with you? He nearly looks the same as you!"

"Sasori," I murmured. "I'll be going to my room." I went upstairs, stomping all the way. My father was such a pain in the ass. I KNOW he doesn't give a damn about me, so I'm not giving a damn for him either. He can go and have tea with Sasori or something.

I went into my room and closed the door as I heard Sasori and my father having a nice conversation. I snorted and laid down on my bed.

_Hey, Shukaku, why'd you do that for? _He knew I was talking about the incident back at Sazuko's. I didn't have a chance to beat him up for that yet.

**Hm. For fun. And remember? I can still control your body as much as I want. Cause you owe me. **Lucky bastard. Right now, I could only hold him out for about 10 seconds. I was drained from keeping him in check for the last few days.

_Can you stop harassing Sazuko, though? _

**Why? Is there anything in it for me?**

_I'll make it up to you. I'll let you use my body to kill one person a week. As long as you don't hurt Sazuko._

**Any one person? Any one I want? **I could almost imagine Shukaku licking his sandy jaws in anticipation.

_Only if Sazuko doesn't know that person. I don't want her hurt indirectly._

**...dammit.**

Sazuko POV

I sighed and opened the door to my house. Well, looks like half of the Akatsuki are still here. Deidara was on my computer, playing a really bloody game that involved bombing people's heads off, Zetsu was talking to Mr. Ukki-I'm surprised it's still alive after all these years, and Tobi was...well...being Tobi. He was drawing on paper then sticking them on the wall, and it looks like he's almost destroyed one of the walls with his artwork.

They haven't changed at all.

"Sazuko-chan's back!" Tobi cried, being the first one to notice my arrival. "Where's Sasori-danna and Gaara-kun?"

"They left for 'Gaara-kun''s house. They're meeting up with Kankuro, since Sasori's going to teach him some stuff about puppets." I shrugged. "I think they're coming back soon."

"He's going to be wasting his time, un." Deidara dragged his attention away from the computer for a few seconds. "And when Sasori realizes he's been wasting his afternoon, he's going to be in a bad mood, un."

"That's his fault, not mine." I took my skateboard from the garage, dusted it off, then looked for my backpack. "I'm going to the mall for some stuff. Don't destroy the house"-I shot a glare at Deidara- "or turn my wall into a mosiac"-glared at Tobi- "or start growing a mini garden" -glare at Zetsu- "I'm be back some time before nine, so make yourselves at home." I slung my backpack over my shoulder. "Bye guys!" I went out the door.

"Bye, Sazuko-chan!" Tobi waved at me. I smiled. I bet he was still a child at heart. Deidara, however, was already back to his computer game. I wasn't surprised. Why would college students listen to high schoolers?

I closed the door, locked it, then pulled out my phone. I quickly sent a text to Ryu, telling him I was at the mall and to meet me there. Then I sent a similar one to Sasori and Gaara. The only difference was that I told them to come back.

Then I jumped onto my skateboard and sailed all the way to the mall, without a hitch. When I arrived, I saw Ryu.

"Hey," I said, raising out my hand.

"'sup." He clasped his hand into mine into a high five.

"Let's go." I walked into the mall and went directly to the hidden shop that no one knew about. You just go in through Gap, use the second fitting room from the left, and pull the mirror out. Then, just follow the staircase to the underground shop, where some people from Konoha High run it. They sell special equipment for weapons and such. Since I was the champion twice in a row, I had a free pass for 50% off. Yay me.

I grabbed Ryu's arm and pulled him with me to Gap. He knew about the secret passageway as well, so it wasn't surprising when he walked out in front of me, in an effort to ditch me behind. Too bad I caught up with him when we got into the store.

"Don't do that again." I gave him a fierce glare. He just laughed.

"Make me," he said.

I rolled my eyes and randomly grabbed a pair of jeans. Ryu grabbed a T-shirt that looked very emo. It had a picture of someone stabbing a wall, thinking that it was his arm.

"Hey, I think I actually kinda like this," he said, putting it out in front of him.

"It's very much your style," I joked. He aimed a casual kick at me. Missed.

"Whatever, let's just go. I'll take the second room, you take the one next to mine." See, Gap let you use one fitting room for two people. It's understandable. They probably thought that they would do something wrong in there, since Gap doesn't have cameras in the fitting rooms.

I headed towards the fitting rooms, with Ryu at my side. I took the second room, he took the third. I laid down on the ground and stuck my head out from under the door.

"The coast is clear," I hissed to Ryu. There was no one outside to witness what we were going to do.

Ryu POV

"The coast is clear," I heard Sazuko whisper. I got down on all fours and measured how much room there was under the wall seperating the rooms. See, the wall dividing the rooms, it doesn't go all the way. It leaves about a foot under it, just enough for someone (like me) to squeeze through to the other side.

Slowly, careful not to break any bones, I crawled out into Sazuko's room.

"Ouch. I think I broke a bone somewhere." I twisted my arm and winced. Yikes that hurt.

"Whatever." Sazuko rolled her eyes. "Let's just go." She reached out with her hand and changed the oxygen molecules around her into a suction field (I have no clue what it is, it just attracts stuff to her hand. But, it's not magnetic or anything). The mirror slowly moved open.

"Yeah!" I whispered/yelled. A loud whisper, actually. "Let's go."

**Done ^_^ Hope you guys like it, I'm not sure about the Gap rule thingy, I just made it up :P**

**Review please!**


	34. Chapter 33

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. **

**madin456: i will be changing the title, when i get an idea of where my story will be going ;) thanks for noticing though**

**Maxi the Suna nin: i wasn't sure if you wanted mentioning, since i wouldn't like to be mentioned in a story ;) if you created an account, i could've asked you, but you didn't so i didn't want to risk it. sorry :P  
**

Temari POV

Walking home with Kankuro only is pretty annoying, especially with Gaara gone. Gaara usually keeps my loud brother in check with a glare. But since he isn't here right now, I have to keep up with his ramblings about Sakura, this girl he's developed feelings for. Sure, she's cute, with her pink hair color. She's pretty nice as well, and seems to like Kankuro back.

"So I was wondering if I should ask her out now! I mean, she's hugged me," Kankuro said dramatically.

"Yeah, sure," I said, without even realizing what I was saying. I wonder where Shikamaru is right now...

"Really?" Kankuro gave me a hopeful look.

"Hm? What?" I snapped out of my thoughts of Shikamaru. I turned to face him. "Did I say something?"

Lucky for me, we just arrived at our house. I rung the doorbell and entered the house.

"Dad, we're back!" I called as I took off my shoes, then dropped my bag on the table next to the door. I turned around and saw a redhead a few feet from me. At first I thought it was Gaara, with that emotionless face of his. Turns out it wasn't, since this guy had brown eyes.

"Who're you?" I narrowed my eyes.

"Didn't Kankuro tell you? I'm Sasori!" he said, walking closer to us. Us being me and Kankuro. He put his elbow on Kankuro's shoulder, acting as if they've known each other for years. "I'll be training Kankuro, so please kindly leave us." When I showed no inclination of moving, he forcefully added, "Now! You might get hit by puppets or something."

I rolled my eyes. As if. However, I went upstairs, and noticed that Gaara's door was locked. So he's back, huh? Oh well, better leave him alone. He'd probably kill me just for trying the doorknob.

Unfortunately for me, Gaara heard me shake the knob. Crap.

"What?" came Gaara's scratchy voice. He opened the door a slit. His eyes were narrowed, and his teeth were bared. "I'm busy right now."

"R-right..." I back away slowly. "I didn't mean to bother you, Gaara..." I turned around and tried to walk calmly to my room. Once I reached my safe area, I let out a breath of air I was holding. That was absolutely terrifying. I hadn't seen Gaara like that since he was ten, when Kankuro made a joke about him. I thought Sazuko might've changed him, but guess not that much. Looks like he still has a killing instinct.

Sazuko POV

I strolled around the underground shop. Everything was pretty cheap, but I needed a lot of materials. In my mind, I formed an idea for Temari's fan. A bigger fan would have more power, but the user would have to use more strength to wield it. How tall was Temari? Five foot six? Eh, I guess a five foot high fan would be enough. And then there should be hidden weapons...

As my mind scrolled through all the options, I looks through the materials they had. Metals, wood, kunai knives, throwing stars, paint, thin durable paper, wires, gems, energy restoring pills, all those kind of stuff. I grabbed some of the paper, metals, stars, paint, and wood for Temari. Hopefully, that would be enough. Then I grabbed a couple dozen kunais for myself. I walked over to the counter to purchase my materials.

"Forty dollars, please," said the student from behind the counter. He was one of the people that went to Konoha High. I flashed my Student ID and gave him twenty bucks. I love discounts.

"Hey, Sazu, can you get this for me?" Ryu walked over with a small flint dagger. It could easily be hid inside the sleeve of a shirt.

"You're not from this school though," I said gently. Hell, if Ryu brought a dagger to his school...Let's just say it wouldn't be pretty when he's mad.

"Please!" He gave me a puppy eyes look. I flinched. The puppy eyes of doom...

"N-no..." It took all my willpower to refuse him. I hate puppy eyes. And spiders. And any kind of insect. Oh, and lectures. Yup, don't forget about lectures. Teachers making you sit in class for almost an hour, doing nothing except listening and taking notes...I can't sit still...

Ryu gave me glare. "I know what you're feeling right now. You really want me to have the dagger, don't you? But you're afraid of people getting hurt cause of me..." Ryu crossed his arms.

"Uh...sorry that I don't trust you with weapons?"

"Whatever." He put the dagger back where he got it. "Can I have a kunai instead? Last time you got me a metal stick..."

I rolled my eyes. "No."

Ryu pouted. "I thought I was your friend!"

I wasn't going to get into another argument with him. Instead, I left the store to go back home. Ryu quickly followed me. Haha.

Gaara POV

I've nearly dozed off twice now. Talking to Shukaku is boring, since he isn't the world's best conversationalist.

I got up from my bed to take a shower. Dammit, I can't use my sand when I'm wet. That sucks. At least Shukaku hates water as well. I turned the water faucet thingy on, then stepped into the bathtub. Shit, it's freezing.

**No duh...it's almost winter, stupid.**

_...asshole._

**^.^ I think I took long enough on this chapter...lol**

**I'm not going to be updating this soon, since I have a piano festival thingy on the 23rd. At eight. In the fucking morning...-_-**

**Review please! I'd love to hear your comments and crap like that ^.^**

**(I'm on a cursing streak!)  
**


	35. Chapter 34

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. **

**Um...no chat style writings, right? But there's just going to be a short chat in this chappie...don't kill me :D**

Deidara POV

"Hey, Zetsu, how long are you going to be talking to your lame plant, un?" I asked boredly. I turned away from the computer. Yup, I won the game. AND got first place in the rankings. A 3,605 kill streak. I beat the top player by 329 more deaths. Yeah, un!

"Shut up, Deidara! Mr. Ukki can hear you, you know!" Zetsu shot back.

"Whatever..." I turned back to the screen. Wow it's late. It's almost eight.

"Deidara-sempai! What are we having for dinner?" Tobi dashed over to me. "Oh! Is this a game? Can I play?" He started clicking random stuff on the internet and typing stuff.

"Dammit Tobi! Sazuko's gonna kill me, un, if she finds out you're destroying her computer!" I whacked his hand from the mouse. Crap. He hacked into Sazu's gmail. Hm? Gaara's online? Well now, I didn't think he was that kinda guy, going on the internet. I started a chat with him. (I don't know how gmail chat works, just pretend you can have nicknames on it) I tried not to say "un" too much.

**Can'tWaitForSummer: **hey gaara :D

**DeathToAll: **i'm busy dammit

**Can'tWaitForSummer: **:'( what r u doing right now!

**DeathToAll:** chatting w/ u. duh.

**Can'tWaitForSummer:** besides that, u said u wer busy!

**DeathToAll:** trying to kill shukaku

**Can'tWaitForSummer:** ...oh

**DeathToAll: **wat do u want

**Can'tWaitForSummer:** hows sasori, un

**DeathToAll:** not answering until u tell me who this is

**Can'tWaitForSummer:** its sazuko

**DeathToAll:** no its not, she's at the mall. deidara?

**_Can'tWaitForSummer has left the chat._**

Damn, how'd he guess? Probably the "un" I let slip. I spun the chair away from the computer screen and into the kitchen.

"Zetsu! I told you, plants can't hear! Nor can they talk, un!" I growled. Zetsu was still talking to Mr. Ukki in a corner.

"Don't mind him, Mr. Ukki. That's what everyone thinks, but I know that you can hear me." Zetsu gave me a glare. I bet Mr. Ukki can also hear thoughts. ZETSU'S AN IDIOT, UN! I screamed in my mind. Surprisingly, the plant's flower's petals fell off after my outburst in my head. Wow, really? I didn't know I could do that.

"Mr. Ukki!" Zetsu screeched. He started whispering the plant again.

I jumped off from the chair and started raiding the fridge. Wow, Sazuko barely has anything. I sighed and walked over to her phone and dialed her cell number.

"Sazuko, un! What are we having for dinner!" I whined.

**"I'm buying right now! Just wait a few damn minutes!"**

"Hurry up, un!" I hung up. Time to go annoy Tobi. Muahahahaha...un.

**I just felt like updating this story :D My recital's in two days! **freaks out****

**Oh well. I hope you liked it!**

**BTW, review! :D**


	36. Chapter 35

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. **

***cry* I failed my recital :'( I messed up before I started, cause I forgot the first few notes. then I couldn't remember them, so i just continued. the first ten notes were ABSOLUTE CRAP. *goes to emo corner***

**Anyways, I'm sure you don't want to here me talk about the recital too much. Here's the next chapter!**

Sazuko POV

"We're back!" I cried through my house door. Ryu, Gaara, Temari, Sasori and Hirako were behind me. Yeah, I saw my sis when I was coming home. And called the Sabaku's to meet me outside of the mall. Temari had her fan already, since I built together in that "underground shop" as Ryu called it.

"Finally, un!" Deidara dashed over to us, away from Tobi. Poor kid was getting harassed by Deidara.

"Fooooooooood..." Zetsu came over to us. I guess he smelled the McDonalds chicken nuggets. Yup, he only eats meat, so I had to by 50 pieces for Zetsu alone. What a waste of money.

"Hey, Sasori-danna!" Deidara ran up to the red head. "Why're you back? I thought you were staying at Kankuro's, un!"

"Do you not want me to come back?" Sasori asked in his cold voice.

After a few moments of silence passing between the two Akatsuki members, I cleared my throat. "Let's eat!"

"Yay!" Tobi jumped over to us, grabbed some food, and started nibbling on it like a rabbit.

"Aww...Tobi!" I hugged the mask wearing kid. "You're so cute when you do that!"

Instantly, I felt an evil aura behind me. Unsurprisingly, it was Gaara.

Ryu started laughing. Probably because he read Gaara's emotions. Unlike Ryu, I can only sense emotions like a normal person. However, Ryu can instantly tell what they're feeling, regardless if they show it or not. Don't you just _love_ his ability? Great when you want to hide a secret, eh?

"Dammit..." I whispered. "Gaara, don't kill anyone! Please!"

"Whatever..." He stalked into the house, up the stairs, and into my room. Which he technically owns now.

Suddenly, my phone rang. Home phone, not cell.

"Divide the food amongst yourselves, I'm going to go pick it up." I dashed towards the nearest phone.

"Hello?"

**"Sazuko?"**

"Ms. Tsunade?"

**"Yes. Is Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro with you?"**

"Yeah."

**"Good. You and Gaara will be returning to school tomorrow."**

"But Ms. Tsunade! He-"

**"I know. Don't worry, he should be okay by now. Oh, and he will be having an assessment on his skills. As well as his siblings. Tomorrow."**

"...Okay, Ms. Tsunade..."

**"That will be all. Have a good night, Sazuko."**

"You too, Ms. Tsunade." I hung up, then let out a deep breath. Time to start training again.

**That was a short chapter, I just thought I should get this story back onto high school again :P If I didn't, this story might've been un-high school related.**

**Review! And check out my other story, 101 Ways to Embarrass Naruto Characters**


	37. Chapter 36

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. **

**I'm really sorry that I haven't updated in so long. I was too worried about a bunch of things...**

Sazuko POV

"I want to see how good you guys are," I ordered. Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro knew about their assessment tomorrow at school, so I was helping them prepare tonight.

"Gaara, you know the drill." I smiled at the redhead. He, however, did not smle back. Is he still mad at me? Well, he's always like that... But he complied anyways. Gaara's sand ripped through the garage, destroying everything in its path. Soon, there was nothing in the garage.

"Okay, Temari. You can go first." I led the blond female to the middle of the room. "Gaara, Kankuro, you better stay outside. It might get dangerous in here." They nodded and left.

Temari POV

I was nervous, to say the least. I wasn't sure what to do, nor how powerful Sazuko was. She must be pretty good, to be able to live after spending a few weeks with Gaara.

_Never show your fear._ Shikamaru had taught me that. Well, I guess I'll just try my best and not show fear then...

"Trust your instincts Temari," Sazuko encouraged me. "C'mon."

I took a deep breath, then exhaled. "Let's do this."

I whipped my fan open, showing three purple dots on the fan. Cool, I wonder what they do! I grabbed the fan with both hands, and swung it at Sazuko. Blades of wind shot out from my weapon.

Sazuko POV

_Don't forget I made your weapon Temari_...I have the advantage.

I dodged the wind blades. One grazed my shoulder though. My mechanic brain started working...Temari would be best for long-ranged attacks, and attacks that covered a big area. With her fan, she could definitely destroy a whole forest within seconds. If she had to fight Kankuro, she would almost definitely win. All she has to do is aim at Kankuro, who is controlling the puppets. And with his hands full of his wooden dolls, it'll be harder to defend against, unless he uses a puppet as a shield. Gaara, however, would be a different matter. Since Gaara has an awesome defense and pretty good attack power, it'll be hard to take him down. If Temari uses her fan, Gaara's sand would instantly leap to his defense. Then he can just use sand to attack Temari, without getting close range.

Another set of blades shot at me. This time, instead of dodging, I faced it head on. I pushed one hand through the wind blades, dulling the edges, therefore making it harmless. Temari's attacks became a gently breeze.

"My turn, let's see your defenses." I stuck a hand in the wall behind me, and changed the matter into a sword.*

I jumped at Temari, and stuck the sword straight down into the ground in front of her. Yes, the first attack is always a fake. I shot out with my legs, aiming a kick at her neck. Temari had shut her fan, and used it to block out my attack. Smart. I never thought of using it like that.

Temari POV

Let's see what's so special about the purple circles... I opened my fan and bit my thumb.

_A lot of things are activated through blood._ Shikamaru had also told me that. I stuck my bloody thumb onto the moon. Instantly, kunais shot out throughout the fan.

"I didn't know you knew that!" Sazuko cried. She created a shield from the ground.* It blocked out all of the kunais.

"Well, that was pretty good." Sazuko walked over to me. I raised my fan in defense.

"No, I'm not going to attack you. I think you're pretty good already. I'm done with you." She smiled at me. "Let's call Kankuro in, I'm going to see how good _he_ is, now that Sasori's trained him."

**And that's the end...^.^**

*** In Fullmetal Alchemist, Edward could create stuff out of the ground or air and stuff like that.**

**Review! I'm not sure when the next chapter would get out...**


	38. Chapter 37

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. **

**I am SO SORRY for not updating so long! I kept forgetting, please forgive me!  
**

Kankuro POV

I swear, it was like a storm in there. I could hear Sazuko and Temari's cries, as well as solid blows being passed. Sazuko must be one heck of an opponent.

"I am so glad I'm not in there..." I murmured. Gaara grunted. At least I think he did. I saw his chest suddenly rise, then fall, but I couldn't hear anything.

"Kankuro." Temari's voice reached my ears. I turned to face my blonde sister.

"What?"

"It's your turn."

"Oh." I took my puppets from the table and headed into the battle room, aka garage, but who cares?

Temari POV

"So...G-gaara." I stutter slightly at his name, but I hope he doesn't catch it.

"What?" he growled out.

I was probably going to risk my life on this question, but I asked it anyways.

"How's your relationship with Sazuko?"

Please don't kill me.

Gaara POV

"How's your relationship with Sazuko?"

I froze. Did Temari know that I liked her? Have I told her? ...No, I'm sure I haven't.

"It's none of your business," I replied in my coldest voice. Which seems to work, since Temari shuts up after that. I headed upstairs, away from everyone else, and laid down onto Sazuko's bed.

_Hey, Shukaku. Remember the deal?_

**Yeah. Can I go kill someone now? I need blood...**

_Sure. Just don't kill someone Sazuko knows. _

**Awesome.**

Shukaku POV

Hell yeah...I took over my host's body, making him into "half-Shukaku mode".

"Heh..." I growled out through Gaara's mouth. "Sweet."

I leaped out the window in this room and landed on the ground.

_Watch it! That's MY body you're messing with._

**Too bad. You should've realized that before you made the offer. But anything to keep Sazuko safe, eh?**

Gaara kept silence after that. Suck it!

I trusted my nose to direct me to a victim. Hm...yes! There, at the direction of two o'clock. I dashed there and found a male human, unknown of the danger behind him. I don't think Sazuko's ever talked to him before...All right. Time to attack.

I whipped my tail into his back, knocking him out and making him fall into the ground. I took his body in my mouth and carried him away behind a building, where people won't find it. There, I started scratching, clawing, biting, and destroying the victim's body in any way possible.

At one point, Gaara's consciousness started kicking in.

_That is gross._

**Sorry for the really short chapter, inspiration is just not kicking in. I'm not sure when the next chapter is gonna be out, just don't expect it under a week. Sorry...**

**Review! I'll try to get the next chapter out sooner!  
**


	39. Chapter 38

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. **

**Sorry for not updating, I had the story all written down (with a lot of FullMetal Alchemist pics on the side margins) and then the computer broke down. T.T So I had to wait for about a week...Really sorry guys.**

Sazuko POV

I lept back from the wall when I heard Kankuro enter.

"Hey." I nodded in his direction. He raised his hand in reply and took a spot at the other end of the room.

"Ready?" No reply. "I'll take that as a yes. Let's go."

Kankuro POV

I attached the invisible strings onto my puppet, Karasu.

"Here I come!" I whipped the Karasu a few feet away from Sazuko, in the middle of the battle field. Then, I opened up it's body to shoot out dozens of needles. They were all directly aimed for my opponent, covering only the front half. Sazuko dodged them all by leaping back, like I knew she would. Now her back was to the wall, limiting her movement a bit.

"Nice try!" Sazuko called out. I smirked, then detached all of the crow's limbs. Spikes shot came out from the ends, coated with poison. They were perfectly positioned to attack from all sides. Immediately, I shot them.

Sazuko POV

The ends of the arms turned inspikes. No doubt, there would probably be poison on the tips. Sasori was advanced in poisons, after all. He would've taught Kankuro for sure.

The spikes shot at me at once. I dropped to the ground and changed some material of the floor into a half-circle shield, protecting me completely. The toxic limbs hit against metal. As soon as the onslaught ended, I changed the shield into a few kunais and a longsword. Good thing Zabuza had taught me well. I knew how to use this stuff.

I grabbed a few kunai and threw them directly at Karasu's main body. Kankuro erected a shield from Karasu, blocking the attack. I grinned, then threw another pair at it, hoping that my plan works. As soon as Kankuro's attention was diverted by the kunais, I grabbed the longsword and and threw it at Kankuro, missing him by inches. The attack nicked his shoulder.

"Dammit that hurt!" Kankuro growled at me. I nodded in reply. "It's only a scratch, and it's not poisoned at all. If I wanted to, I could've hit your heart directly or something." I gave Kankuro a stern glare. "Did Sasori teach you defense? You need to make sure that you're well defended as well as your puppets. Since you're using puppets, it gives your opponent two targets."

Kankuro nodded glumly. "Yeah, Sasori covered a bit of it, but I couldn't remember all of it. It's hard, I have to concentrate on my puppet and myself, then I have to remember with finger combination moves which joint or activates which attack."

I headed over to the door without giving a reply. "Yeah. That'll be enough, let's call Gaara in."

Gaara POV

_Okay, Shukaku. Give me my body back. You've fed already._

**Whatever. Just remember next week. **Shukaku relinquished control of my body. I twisted my hand, then stood up from the ground and turned away from the corpse.

_That was the grossest thing I have ever seen in my entire life._

**Too bad, guess you'll just have to get used to it.**

I started heading back to Sazuko's house. Wouldn't want her to know that I've made a deal with her worst enemy... She'd have my head on a stick.

**Exactly.**

I ignored Shukaku, instead focusing on the way back. Left, left, right, left...I finally arrived at my green-haired friend's house. I stood a few paces away from the door, and glared murderously at it. It innocently looked back.

"Shoot..." I muttered. I had overlooked something. "I can't go through the front door...Everyone'll know that I've left!" I thought at it for a few moments. Before I can decide what to do, the decision was made for me.

The front door flew open. Sazuko and Ryu stood in front, Temari and Kankuro behind them. The Akatsuki weren't far behind, right behind Temari. Their gazes didn't show what they're feeling at all, not even Sazuko. I reminded myself to calm down, knowing that Ryu could sense emotions.

**Soooo busted.**

* * *

**Sorry for the long delay, I just wanted to get this out before school starts. I hope this helps those people that were curious about Kankuro's battle. ^_^**

**Review please! (even if I don't deserve it)**


	40. Chapter 39 and Author's Note

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. **

**...yeah. So. Sorry about the late update AGAIN. School just started, and homework is starting to pile up, since I'm in all the advanced classes -_- (Geo, Honors, Olympiad)**

**...and...um...I might be stopping this story for a while...but I'll try to work more on my other stories .**

Ryu POV

"So...What have you got to say for yourself?" Sazuko growled threateningly. Yeah. Note to self: Don't keep her waiting, she has a really short temper fuse.

_Flashback_

_Ryu POV  
_

_"Hey, where's Gaara?" Sazuko came out from the training room (aka garage) with Kankuro. _

_"I saw him go upstairs," Temari offered. I walked away from my chat with Deidara (he is too obsessed with blowing things up) and stood next to Kankuro and Sazuko._

_"Me too," I agreed. "He probably was just thinking about stuff. Ya know, with a sadistic demon in your head, you'd try to have some time alone. I know I would."_

_Sazuko nodded in agreement. "Well, I guess I'll just go up to call him down..."_

_"I'm coming with you," Temari said instantly. Oh yeah. Gaara might be in Shukaku form. But wouldn't we've heard him?_

_Sazuko nodded and headed up with Temari._

_Sazuko POV_

_I headed to my room first. As a natural law in the house, my guests stay in my room, and Hirako's in hers. _

_I opened the door a slit, then peeked through. Of course, I couldn't see anything, since it was too dark. So, I stuck my through the door, reached over, and turned the lights on. And no one was there._

_"Phew..." I opened the door fully and flopped onto the bed. "So Gaara's not here. Great."_

_"He was here, he just left through the window." Temari was inspecting my room's window, above my desk._

_"How can you tell?" I jumped up and walked over to her. "You're right...the window's open, my desk's a mess, and it smells of your brother."_

_Temari gave me a worried look at the last part. _

_"What? If you're next to him 24/7, just waiting for a demon to show up, you'd notice how he smells too!" I cried indignantly._

_Temari nodded slowly. "Right..."_

_"Whatever..." I rolled my eyes. "Anyways, he WAS here. Where the fuck is he now?"_

_"Well, wherever he went off to, he has to come back," Temari said logically._

_"You're right." I headed down the stairs with Temari, trying to hold my temper in. _

_But, as usual, I failed.  
_

_Ryu POV_

_I was slouching on the couch with Kankuro. We were happily talking about puppets and their weaknesses when a storm cloud raining daggers and rocks drifted over (guess who?).__ "So? What's up?"_

_"That fucking bastard left. Through my window! And he didn't even have the decency to close it! And now my desk's a mess." Sazuko growled out and sat down on my other side. "If he was going to leave, he could've left through the FRONT DOOR. I mean, that's why they're made. So that people won't have to jump out windows to leave the house."_

_"He probably left through the window cause he didn't want you to notice that he left."_

_"And he'd better have a good reason for it!"_

_"We can always wait for him to come back..."_

_"Good idea! Let's wait till my ass gets numb!" Sazuko stood up, only to have Temari and Kankuro drag her back down._

_"Yup...that's good ol' Sazu." Deidara sighed. "Such a short temper still, un! I thought you'd matured a little since we last saw you, un..." He sat, backwards, on the swivel chair with his face on his arms.  
_

_"Maybe next year!" Tobi cried happily. "Let's visit again next year to see if she's matured!" _

_So that's what he was getting at. He just wanted to come back again.  
_

_"Dude, you need to mature too," Kankuro said lazily. Tobi started pouting._

_"Tobi is a good boy!"_

_"Never said you weren't..."_

_*20 minutes later*_

_"That fucking son of a bitch still hasn't come back yet!" Sazuko banged her fist on the couch, since she couldn't move. Deidara and Sasori were holding her down, since they were pretty strong. Hirako came over, too, and was calling Gaara's dad if he came back. When he said no, she went back to finishing homework. Little geek._

_"Chill." I came from behind the couch and patted her head. "If you start breaking stuff, the police is gonna come."_

_"Yeah, like I care right now! All I wanna know is why he left!"_

_And at that fateful moment...the doorbell rang._

_"FINALLY!" Sazuko screeched at the same moment I muttered, "Did anyone order pizza? No?" _

_Sazuko leaped up from the couch, with Deidara and Sasori behind her. We all rushed over to the door._

_Making sure that everyone would be out of range when Sazuko opened the door, I tentatively pointed at the doorknob._

_"I know!" Sazuko growled. "I'm just making sure that I won't hit anyone!" She breathed in, and unlocked the door, swung it open, and almost broke off the knob in one swift move._

Ryu POV

...which takes us to our present situation.

"Well?" Sazuko stomped over to Gaara, and that poor dude looks pretty worn out right now. I could sense distress, fear, bloodlust, then nothing. Wait, bloodlust?

"Sazu! Don't go any closer!" I warned. Why the hell would Gaara be after blood right now.

...wait. I've sensed this before on him, after a Shukaku transformation.

Sazuko turned to me, anger and question in her eyes, without having me sense her emotions. I could sense curiosity pulsing from Gaara as well.

"Why?" She rang out a single word, neither angered nor calm. It just sounded normal.

I ignored her and walked over to Gaara, then put my hand on his shoulder.

"You've let out Shukaku, haven't you?" I whispered into his ear. His whole body stiffened, and I could feel guilt from him.

"You did, didn't you?" I urged harder. Without saying a word, Gaara slowly closed his eyes.

_Yes. I did.  
_

I stepped back. Whoa. Did I just hear his thought?

"Hey." Without me knowing, Sazuko had come up next to me. "You'd better start explaining, or my fist is connecting to your face."

"No." I grabbed Sazu's wrist. "He doesn't have to."

_Yes! But now what? I can't slip out every week..._

I realized that Gaara didn't know I was reading his thoughts. I tried stepping into Sazuko's mind.

_What. The. Fuck. Is. Going. On. I swear, when I'm alone with Gaara, I WILL beat the truth out of him.  
_

Didn't need to know that. Great. What am I now, a mind reader? Hey, will I get paid for that?

**Done~ I thought this was actually pretty good ^_^**

**I've listened to "All Star", "Everytime we Touch", "Hero's Come Back", and "Who let the Dogs out?" while writing this chapter :D "All Star"'s pretty good ^_^ And I don't listen to music a lot...So I guess that isn't saying much.**

**Anyways, I might not be updating this until winter break (December). So...um...if you're wondering about what's going to happen, I'm really sorry. But if you have questions, or just wanna know what happens later on, PM me! I'll tell you what I've planned out so far.**

**Don't forget to review! I could spend a few months reading reviews...^_^  
**


	41. Chapter 40

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. **

**'sup everyone. I lied. This one is longer, and I finished sooner. Weird.**

** This one actually flowed easier, and I think I did a damn good job. ^_^**

**Diana: Hey Diana! Happy birthday! **

**Eveyone: Don't forget to wish her a happy birthday in your reviews!**

**Now on with the story...  
**

Sazuko POV**  
**

What. The. Fuck. Is. Going. On. I swear, when I'm alone with Gaara, I WILL beat the truth out of him.

I gave Gaara a cold glare, then dragged the two boys with me. They didn't struggle or anything, just followed me.

So Gaara disappears, I'm worried on the inside but acting mad, then he comes back, and Ryu tells me not to ask him what happened! I am so pissed right now, I was tempted to lock them outside the house. But then, Ryu would probably sneak in through a window or something, and Gaara'll be in as well.

I sighed. Why wouldn't they tell me anything? I always talk to them about everything! Well, I guess not so much with Gaara, but still... Why couldn't they trust me? I could keep a secret...

"Later," Ryu whispered. I guess he sense the turmoil that was roiling inside me. I hated how he could read emotions so easily. When I first realized all he could do was read feelings, I was kinda glad, since it wasn't a dangerous one like mine. But now, I realized that he can hurt people mentally, but all I can do is inflict physical scars. He might be the most dangerous one among us.

When I reached the doorstep, I release their wrists. All the Akatsuki members present knew better than to talk to me when I'm thinking, since I'll just yell at them. Tobi had learned that the hard way, as well as Deidara.

I stumbled up the stairs, before realizing that I hadn't fought against Gaara yet. I shook my head. What I needed now was a plan. A plan to make Gaara or Ryu spill the beans.

Ryu POV

I gave Gaara a curious look. He's been with Sazu long enough to know what she's like when she's pissed, stressed, or worried. But, the redhead kept his face blank.

"Is she all right?" Temari came over worriedly. She looked at the stairs, where Sazuko was a few moments ago. "I haven't seen her like that..."

"She'll be fine in the morning," I reassured her. "I'll go see what's wrong. Disperse, guys." That was our, meaning Akatsuki and me and Sazu, word to chill for the night, or what's left of it.

Sasori gave a small nod, and Zetsu went to his plant again. At least he hasn't been arguing with himself lately. That's good.

I started going up the stairs. Gaara followed me. "Temari, Kankuro, you guys can sleep where you want. You guys've had a long day."

As we reached the top floor, I noticed that Sazuko's door was shut, with a sign - made by me and Hirako - that said:** Keep out. Not in the mood to talk.**

"Aww...she's not supposed to use that one...She's supposed to use the one that says: '**Leave or die**'!" I whined. How dare she! I turned to face Gaara, who was looking as emotionless as ever.

"Hey, can you explain everything to Sazu?"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Why not?"

Gaara turned away. _Because I want to protect her._

Suddenly, the door opened a slit, and Sazuko peeked out.

"Yeah, I really hope you're going to tell me what happened, Gaara." She gestured for us to come into her room. I guess she was giving us some time to explain what happened before she explodes.

She sat down on her bed, I sat on the floor, and Gaara took the chair.

"So tell me. What happened Gaara?" she asked sweetly. Her sweet tone laced the masked threat that lay underneath.

"Nothing," he murmured, not meeting her gaze.

"I'd believe that," she scoffed. She instantly gave up the sweet-girl act. "Seriously. What. Happened. The window was opened, and the desk was a mess."

I gave Gaara a look, but he didn't say anything. So I decided to remain quiet as well.

Sazuko sighed. "So you're not going to talk? Fine. Get outta here. Not you," she added as I started to leave. As Gaara stood up, Sazuko gave him a hurt look, but Gaara acted as if he didn't notice it. Before he exited the door, he turned back, as if he was going to say something, but he didn't. Without a word, he headed out the door, but not before I caught the sad look on his face. I could sense the same emotion rolling off of him as well.

I stood up and sat next to Sazuko. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she replied dishearteningly.

"No, really. Temari's real worried about you."

"I said, I'm fine."

"Liar. You're not. I can tell."

"I hate you right now."

"Sorry."

"Can't you tell me anything, anything at all?"

I remembered Gaara's thoughts: _Because I want to protect her._

I thought for a few moments, then chose my words carefully. It was like treading into the deep end of the pool without knowing how to swim. If I was lucky, I'd survive. If not, oh well. I die.

"Well?" Sazuko asked.

I paused a while longer, then said, "Gaara...he really likes you."

Sazuko gave me a dull look, and that really scared me. She's usually really energetic and screaming her head off, when she's not at school that is.

"No. He _liked_ me. If he still does, he should tell me the truth." She looked away.

I sighed, then put my arm around her shoulders. That brought a spark of life to her eyes.

"He still does like you. And I can tell you like him too. Otherwise, you wouldn't be so bothered by him keeping a secret from you."

Sazuko looked at her lap for a few moments, then said softly, "I guess I do. But I don't know what to do. I can't think straight right now."

I tried going into her head, but I couldn't. Huh.

"Well, a relationship has its ups and downs," I said philosophically. Sazu gave me a sorta warm look. "And all this time I thought you were stupidest person I've ever met."

Gaara POV

Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Da-

**Hey, can you stop that?**

I stopped cursing. _What do you want. I'm not in the best of moods right now._

**Well, you've never been very cheerful anyways. Anyways, I wanted to talk about your girl.**

_My girl?_

**Yeah, yeah! That green-head you like! That one!**

_...she's not my girl._

**Yet. **

_Screw it. Just tell me what you want to talk about right now._

**Fine. Aren't you bitchy right now. **

_Get to the point!_

**I'm getting there! Anyways, she seemed kinda sad to me.**

_I noticed._

**Yeah, well, aren't you going to do something about that?**

I shut Shukaku out of my head, but he did raise a good point. What _am _I going to do about that?

"Gaara?" Kankuro suddenly came up behind me from the staircase.

"What?" I growled. He hesitated, but continued on, "What happened? Why did you leave?"

I chose my words carefully, but without less menace. "What I do is none of your concern. Go away." As I turned around to leave, Kankuro grabbed my arm.

"No, really. I can tell that Sazuko was really worried about you. I heard your conversation," he added casually, as if he was saying that tomorrow was not going to be sunny (it's winter, people!).

"So then I guess you know that I'm not going to tell any of you anything."

"Dude, you're my bro, can't you tell me anything? And Temari's your sister."

"You guys've never acted like it."

"Wha? Okay, so we weren't exactly the friendlist of siblings, but we're still related by blood! We all love you!"

**Blood...**

"Ha! Love? Is that what we're connected by? Are we not connected by pain, betrayal, and lonliness? When I first got into a fight with a guy in 4th grade, father didn't talk to me for a week. He didn't even ask me if I were all right. The two of you ignored me, shunned me! The second time I got into a fight, he was ready to abandon me. He didn't care about me at all. Neither did the two of you. Is that love?" I screamed, my voice rising with each word. I didn't normally lose my temper like this, but for Kankuro to raise up the word "love" in my face...

I snatched my arm away from his hand and left the house through the window in the room across from Sazuko's. I didn't need anyone right now, I just needed to figure out how to live through life.

* * *

Sazuko POV

"Gah..." I turned over to reach my alarm clock. I groped for it blindly, with my eyes squeezed shut. Then a weight landed on top of me. Logic told me it was Ryu. The alarm stopped.

"You son of a bitch..." I tried pushing him off, but the odds were against me. I failed, so, instead, I asked him, "What time is it?"

"It's nearly seven. Dude, wake up, you're gonna be late for school."

"...school? Today's Sunday..."

"No, bitch! It's Monday! Wake up!" My "friend" proceeded to lift me off the bed and dump me on the floor.

"Dude!" I sat up. "The floor is wooden! Not carpeted!" I stood up and opened my eyes (finally!). The world was so bright! I blinked twice, then looked outside my window.

"Snow!" I cried, ecstatic. Yes! I loved snow and rain! "Go wake up Hirako!"

"She woke up already, and left with Mitsuchi for breakfast. Cause her lazy old sister was still asleep," he said with mock pity.

"Not my fault." I attempted to look as innocent as I could.

"Totally not."

"Where's the Akatsuki? And Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara?"

"Deidara and Sasori were thinking about leaving, and maybe bringing everyone else with them the next time they come. Temari and Kankuro are making breakfast - well, mostly Temari - and Gaara's somewhere out there again. Probably stayed out the whole night." He gestured towards the window.

Well, that sure dampened my mood. So Gaara escaped again.

I sighed, like a really really long sigh. "I'm gonna go look for him..."

"No you aren't. You have school in an hour, so-"

"Screw it! I'll look for him while going to school, okay? You're not my dad or something!" I totally lost it. What's up with his priorities? If someone is missing, you call the police. Unless he's possessed by a demon. Then you'd just go look for him and hope that he won't kill you. And Ryu? Someone's life could be in danger. And he worries about school. Wow.

I sifted through my closet and found a really nice coat that I hadn't had a chance to mess up yet. Then I found a semi-matching shirt and jeans. Yay! I found all those in record time of twenty seconds! Then I looked around for something useless so I can change it to something Gaara can wear. Oh...maybe I should use one of my old clothes...

I faced my closet once again, then took out an old pair of jeans.

"Good bye jeans. You have lived through with me on my darkest days...please find your way safely to Jean Heaven." I closed my eyes and prayed for it, then changed it into a jacket that Gaara could wear. Hell, he probably froze up already.

I gave Ryu a nod while he was cursing to himself. I grinned evilly. How he hated my habit of praying before changing the material into something else. Well, I don't do it as often now, but I did it this time just to piss him off.

"Right." He went downstairs, and I followed eagerly for breakfast.

Temari was downstairs, scraping something from the pan, then tossing it into the trash. Kankuro was at the table, already eating.

"Is that breakfast?" I glanced at the three plates on the table. Toast, eggs, and bacon. "Thanks a lot, Temari. Really. I can't cook to save my life."

Ryu nodded rapidly. "I once tried her cooking and almost got food poisoning. It's a good thing you can cook Temari." He took out a spoon from the jar of utensils on the table. I joined him.

Kankuro laughed. "At home, Temari cooks, cause neither Gaara nor I can cook. And Dad always goes out to eat early. But it tastes horrible."

"Yeah, right." Temari sat down next to us and dug into her own plate. "Your friends already left," she added to me.

"Oh, okay." I ate a mouthful of bacon, then swallowed. "Dude, you're good at cooking."

"Thanks," my blonde friend replied. "I'm glad you like it. Some idiots don't appreciate good cooking." She gave Kankuro a side glare. He hastily looked away and went back to eating.

"If I could cook, it might've been the same for me." I laughed, then gave Ryu a good long glance too. Instead of flinching, or looking away or anything, he tackled my claim.

"Maybe, but you can't cook. So don't assume anything yet." He twiddled a piece of bread on his fork. "If you could cook, it probably would still taste horrible."

"I hate you." I glared at him.

"I love you, too."

* * *

Gaara POV

I glared at the world in front of me. I had stayed out all night, since I wasn't in the mood for questions. When it had started snowing in the middle of the night, I camped out in a tree. Problem solved. Until the snow decided to dump itself in my face.

I shook my head, snowing spraying out from my hair, making it all spiky.

**It's really cold.**

_No duh._

**Can we go back? **I could almost imagine Shukaku whining, with his bottom lip sticking out.

_No. We're going to school. _Notice how I said "we". I guess Shukaku was just going to be part of me forever.

I jumped out from the tree, and landed knee deep in the snow.

"Shit," I cursed. From where I came from, snow wasn't common. Maybe something that happened every decade or so. It was warm and sunny year-round, maybe a bit cloudy during the colder seasons. So I was unfamiliar with this icy stuff that covered the ground. And to top it off, it didn't realize how cold it was when it snows. Nor how hard it was when it had me in its grasp. When I tried to take a step, I fell again.

"Here." A hand offered itself to pull me up. I took it, then looked up at the face of who it was.

It was Sazuko, giving me a cold smile. And I swear, I regretted accepting her help then. Knowing her devious mind, she was going to make me pay for what happened last night.

When I stood up on shaky legs, she draped a coat over my shoulders. I looked at her in surprise, but she was looking somewhere else. Actually, anywhere but at me. We started walking towards the school.

"Um..." I tried to get her attention. My effort was rewarded with a cold ignorance.

I coughed, trying again.

No reply.

Again.

"Do you have a cold?" She regarded me coldly. _No, I think it's you that's having the cold shoulder!_

"No." I just wanted to talk.

"Then stop coughing."

"Can we talk?"

"About?"

"Last night."

She froze. "Oh goody, so you're going to tell me what you were doing?" She started walking again.

I hesitated. Was that sarcasm? Or was it real curiosity? "Kind of."

"Like? Talk."

I picked my words carefully. "I can't tell you. But-"

"And you expect me to make a decision based on that. Great. Love it."

"No, really. But I was fine, okay? Nothing I'm doing is endangering anyone."

"Of course not."

"So don't worry about anything."

"Fine."

I gave her a curious look. "Something wrong?"

"Oh nothing." She paused dead and gave me a long glare. "Except that I was worrying about you last night when I realized that you'd disappeared! And when you didn't show for so long, I was thinking of all the things that could've happened to you! Then you come back, and you don't tell me anything that happened, and totally ignored my feelings! So no, nothing's wrong! Except you!"

Sazuko POV

I had hoped that Gaara would tell me something more useful than Nothing-I'm-doing is-endangering-anyone crap. Well, I guess if I had wanted information, I should've just been blunt and asked. Instead, my mouth fires off by itself and yells all those things. Even if all of it was true.

I gave out an impatient sigh, then stuck my hands at my hips. "Tell me what happened. Or I'll ignore you for the rest of my life."

Gaara replied in a voice with equal venom. "Go ahead. Ignore me."

I couldn't believe it. He actually took the stupid choice.

Fine by me. I don't talk a lot at school anyways.

"Don't come to my house today. And take Temari and Kankuro with you. If Shukaku decides to kill everyone you've known, I couldn't care less. Cause every time Shukaku show's up, I waste my time worrying about hurting you, so I try not to hurt you! If you go all Shukaku on me now, you're dead, cause I'm not holding back anymore."

I stalked away from my ex-friend. I felt like crap. And I seriously wanted to kill myself for saying all those things. Cause it was all because of my love for him.

**Unexpected ending? Yes? No? Well, I was just thinking from the top of my head...but I guess this plot works fine...**

**Happy Bday Diana! I'd give you a hug if I wasn't such a sensitive idiot :P **

**Review! I typed it yesterday, and I was going to upload it in a few months (as torture for you guys :D) but I was nice enough to upload it today! Now review! Or I won't get the next chapter out soon!  
**


	42. Chapter 41

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. **

**It's all right if you don't know who Diana is ;) She's closer than you think. BTW, Diana, read the reviews!  
**

Gaara POV

As Sazuko started heading for the school, I trudged a few steps behind her, since we were going in the same direction anyways. I couldn't believe that she said that. Did she mean it? Fucking hell, it's all my fault.

**Haha. Sucker. Anyways, she's not going to hate you for a long time, ya know.**

_How do you know?_

**Cuz I've possessed her dad before, remember? Anyways, she's not going to hold a grudge on you. Maybe for a day. Maybe more. But don't worry about it.**

And the weird thing was, I actually believed the demon.

* * *

Gaara POV

It's nearly the end of the day, but Sazuko still hasn't said a word to me. I had chemistry next, but Sazuko had Chamber Orchestra. We wouldn't be seeing each other anymore, since the Chemistry Building was near the back of the school, but the Band/Orchestra room was almost right next to the exit of the school, in the front.

I sat next to her in Physics. "Uh...can I go back to your house to pick up my stuff?"

"No," she replied, quickly and coldly, without even turning around to look at me. "Ryu will."

"You're becoming more unemotional, Sazu," Sai - I think that's what his name was - said, as unemotional as Sazuko just was.

"Why thank you." No sarcasm used.

"Of course. Any time."

* * *

Ryu POV

I HATE MATH. I absolutely detest that subject! I wish I could go help out Gaara or Sazuko with their relationship stuff. Or get more info out of Gaara. But noooo...I'm here, trying to finish my stupid Algebra II quiz!

Noo...the last problem was a geometry question. I started banging the eraser end of the pencil on the table, until I picked up waves of irritation from the other students and the teacher. Crap...

_Find the length of AB if M is the midpoint. _  
_AM=2x+4; MB=6x+2_

And I'm supposed to know the answer? Give me a break...I can't remember that from last year!

I tried looking into other people's heads, but it didn't work. Was it just a fluke that I was able to sense Gaara's thoughts? Or maybe I have to really know them...?

Oh well. Better start cheating. I glanced at the teacher, then casually shot a look at the guy on my right.

Uh huh...got it. I quickly copied down the answer. Yes! Done! I stretched my arms behind my head, then went up to give my quiz to the teacher. I stuffed my pencil pouch into my backpack and left, all done within ten seconds.

I dashed out the door, and instinctively started sprinting towards my house.

**Really quick chappie, if you know the answer to Ryu's math question, put it into the review! You'll get a prize. :D**

**Okay so now, for real, the next chappie won't be up for a while :P  
**

**Review!**


	43. Chapter 42

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. **

**Science Olympiad sucks. So much homework! And many thanks to Diana, who laid the groundwork for this chapter! Thanks so so so much! I could not have finished this without you! **

**Anways, onto the story...  
**

Ryu's POV

I raced home, and found a call from Sazu on the receiver.

"Huh..." I pressed play.

_"Hey, can you go over to my house and get all of Gaara's stuff? I'm kicking him out. BZZZT..."_

Pretty straightforward. I sighed, tossed my backpack, took out my skateboard, and drifted over to Sazuko's house. I turned on my iPod and started listening to "Tokyo Drift". (AN: to those who haven't heard it, listen to it! it's pretty good)

When I finally arrived at her house, I found the door locked. Greeeeaaaat. Nice planning. I started banging on it, then started brewing up a plan to sneak into her house through a window or something.

Suddenly, Hirako showed up behind me, bringing Mitsuchi along.

"Oh, hi Ryu!" Mitsuchi waved at me. I smiled back. She had natural black hair, contrasting from Hirako's deep green. Her eyes were a bit purple, whilst Hirako's was tinted red.

"Hey, Ryu." Hirako walked up to the door and unlocked it. Awesome.

"Thanks, Hirako." I nodded, and dashed in and up the stairs.

When I approached Sazuko's room, I couldn't find anything that was Gaara's, except for a set of clothes. _Is that it?_ I shrugged, and stuffed it into a bag. I went downstairs again, and tried to remember where Gaara's house was.

Crap. I'm screwed.

I can't remember where his house is.

* * *

Gaara POV

Almost as soon as I left the school, my phone rang.

_One new text from Ryu._

Huh. I checked it out.

_RYU: sup gaara, i can't remember where you live :P care to drop by sazus to pick up your stuff_

I mentally sighed. That was so like him.

_GAARA: yeah sure but sazu kicked me out so everythings your fault got it_

* * *

My hand rested on the knob of the door. I just stood there, with extremely mixed feelings. Technically, I was disobeying Sazuko's order, and this WAS her house. I shouldn't be here, but Ryu said I could. In terms of hierarchy, Sazuko probably has more power than Ryu but...oh screw it. I'm here anyways. Just gotta get this over with...

Ryu was inside, waiting for me. Hirako? I had completely forgotten about her. Kinda. Well, mostly, yeah. And another black haired girl. They were all playing the Wii, Super Smash Brawl, I think. Donkey Kong was winning against Olimar and Pikachu.

"Hey Gaara! Your stuff's down the hallway, on the right," Ryu said without looking away from the game.

"Okay, thanks," I muttered gruffly. I headed down the hall and picked up a really light bag. I think that one's for me.

When I reached the door, I paused a bit. I should thank him for letting me me come back. He deserved it. I opened my mouth to speak, but before I could, Ryu said, "No problem." Then he looked as if he did something wrong.

"No problem?" I asked, suspicious. As far as I knew, I hadn't said anything.

Ryu paused the game, then walked over to me. "Wait." Ryu grabbed my shoulder and turned me around so that I was facing him. "See, I can sense more than emotions. I can occasionally pick up thoughts, too." He pointed at the Wii game. "That's how I'm winning by so much," he whispered quietly, grinning.

My eyes widened. Holy crap, how much had he picked up from me?

"Nothing much, really." Ryu shrugged. "Just some tidbits of information. Nothing that can help on a math quiz. Ugh. I had to go back to good ol' peeking."

I stared at him. He was so easy about everything, rarely exasperated or angry. No wonder he's been Sazuko's friend for so long, whom always shows her emotions easily. Maybe that's why he got his talent.

"Well, I guess you should go soon, since Sazuko will probably be here any minute." He patted me on the back, and turned me around so that I was facing the door. Just as I was going to open it, the door opened by itself.

A pair of red eyes met mine.

"Shit." Ryu started banging his head on the wall. "We're screwed."

It was Sazuko.

"Gaara?" Her voice was full of menace. "Didn't I tell you to go home? I'm sure I did. If I didn't, then let me make this clear. I don't want you anywhere near me, unless you're ready to stop lying and tell me what's going on. Period." She smiled coldly. And that scared me more than any glare could.

**Hello Gaara. How are you? Want me to do you a favor? I can, you know! Just lend me your body for a few moments and everything will be fine! Trust me. Oh wait, nevermind. I wouldn't want to kill anyone, do I? Of course not!**

_Shut. The. Hell. Up. In. There._

**Just kidding! Let me at 'em!**** You need to let me get my share of blood! I'm going crazy in here.**

_Shut up and let me work. And I can tell you're going crazy.  
_

**Hey, ok. Well, your girl seems a little uptight today. Why don't you let me help you, eh? I just need a body to possess..**

Shukaku, apparently thirsty for blood, suddenly burst out. _Shit! Get back!_ My body was out of control. Ryu calmly grabbed my wrist, trying to calm me down. I felt fine, but my body apparently wasn't connected to my soul anymore.

Then everything faded black.

* * *

**Oh, shit. She is good... **Shukaku slowly slid back into its cage.**  
**

Slowly, one at a time, all my senses returned to me. First my smell, then hearing, then sight. I really wish I couldn't see anything right now. My body was a bloody mess, and I could barely stand up. Ryu was protecting Hirako and Mitsuchi from something. Sazuko was facing me, blood dripping down her arms and cheeks.

Did I do this? Yes. I probably did. Or was it Shukaku? I feel so light-headed right now...I can't think straight...I was sinking into water...no, blood. My blood...

Sazuko POV

When Gaara slowly collapsed to the ground, I screamed in horror. Did I kill him? Damn, I hope not...

"Gaara?" I yelled. I reached over to him, and gently put a hand on his chest. My arm hurt from that movement, but Gaara was in a worse shape than I was. And it was all my fault. I was the one who started slicing at him in my fury. Fury...of what? It was just a little argument...nothing to lose blood over...

"I'm so sorry..." I whispered softly, tears spilling out. "I'm so, so sorry." Because I had nearly killed him. Gaara was still alive, but just barely.

"Ryu! Go call Sakura! Tell her it's an emergency! And get Ino too, if you can." I ordered quickly. I knew he was protecting Hirako and Mitsuchi from my attacks, but I needed him now.

I quickly changed some of the blood into a towel and water. Good thing there was plenty of objects for me to use without destroying my house. I gently dabbed it at his arms, then his face, cleaning off the blood. Then I tried using it to hold the blood back, but face it, I can't save him now. I needed Sakura. She can do it.

* * *

"Sakura!" I practically screeched when she dashed in through the door. I had place Gaara on the couch and tried to stop the blood to the best of my abilities, but my best was pretty poor. It's a good thing none of his major organs had been damaged, I think.

"Sazu! Move aside!" she commanded instantly when she saw the state that Gaara was in. She rushed over to him, inspected him, and started mumbling to herself while working on his body. It's a good thing she can heal most stuff with just contact.

I moved back a few feet so that Sakura had enough room to work, but I could see what she was doing too.

"Sazuko? What happened?" Kankuro asked hesitantly. He had arrived too, with Sakura. I think they're going out or something.

I shook my head. "It was my fault. I hurt him. Not Shukaku." Kankuro's eyes cleared, and I think he pretty much knew what happened. Or he's going to ask Ryu later on.

"I'm going to call Temari." He took out his cellphone and dialed her number.

Ryu came over to me and held onto my shoulder. "He'll be fine." I could tell he was trying his best to comfort me, while holding back his fear of Gaara's death. "He will survive." It sounded like he was trying to reassure himself as well.

Ino came into the house almost right after Ryu said that. "Sazuko! What happened?" Then she gasped and saw that Gaara was half dead. She came over to Gaara as well and started treating him too.

"Thanks guys..." I choked out. Ino and Sakura worked together, patching up cuts and fixing bones. But Gaara did lose a lot of blood...will he be fine?

Shukaku POV

Damn! Well, that went well.

**Hey, Gaara, don't die, okay? If you do, then I die too. You'd better survive!**

_...wha? _

**You're alive?**

_Mmm...I dunno. I can't open my eyes. I'm being jabbed by people all around me._

I mentally let out a breath of air through my jaws. Being a trapped demon sucks, ya know? Well, at least I'll survive. And maybe I'll forget revenge this time...the chick's too strong. Hell, if she wanted, she could have killed him with one strike. She was holding back, but barely.

Sazuko POV

"Gaara's out of danger now," Sakura reported, wiping her forehead. Ino stood up, and said, "He should be fine, just don't overwork him too much. Give him a few days to rest."

I stood up too. "Thank you both sooo much!" I exclaimed. Sakura smiled a bit, then walked over to Kankuro. He gave a her a hug, then they started mumbling about some stuff I don't want to know. Ino excused herself, saying that she'll be late for work at her flower shop. Her family runs one. The Yamanaka Flower Shop. Pretty cool.

But I could care less about that now. I kneeled down next to Gaara, and held his hand in mine. It was cold, but I could feel blood rushing through his body.

"I'm so glad you're alive..." I rested my head on his chest, making sure that his heart was beating strongly. It was. I laid there for a few minutes, as if moving will cause the beat to fade away.

I didn't realize how much he meant to me until now. As the saying goes, you won't realize the true value of someone, until they leave you. I think that's how it goes. Not sure.

Slowly, Gaara's chest started rising faster. I think that's good. I think that means that he's breathing.

"Gaara?" I gently shook him. His eyes blinked open a bit, but they closed back. But that was all I needed. He's alive!

Gaara POV

"Oh, Gaara!" A pair of arms grabbed my shoulders and held me in a hug. "I'm so so sorry! I don't need to know what you were doing that night, I'm just so glad you're alive!"

I slowly opened my eyes, and realized that it was Sazuko holding me tightly. Her wild green hair couldn't be mistaken for anyone else.

I rested my chin on her shoulder, glad for the support. I felt as if I had died. I'm not sure if I have, but I remember Shukaku yelling at me to not die.

"Sazuko..." I mumbled. "You're choking me..." But I didn't mind. I was glad to be alive too, even better that Sazuko was hugging me. That means she forgave me, right?

"Gaara?" Sazuko let go of me, staring right into my eyes. Noticing that my eyes were open, she leaned in again. Her lips landed on my lips, fitting perfectly. A few seconds later, I realized that she was kissing me.

**Cliffhanger? No? Ah well.**

**Review! Next chapter probably won't get out soon enough either...maybe a month...  
**


	44. Chapter 43

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. **

**Just as an FYI, I have never kissed before. So I'm making this up while kissing my hand. Just kidding, I need my hand to type ;)**

**Oh yeah, and no one got the math problem right from a couple chapters back. Try again, people!  
**

Gaara POV

Sazuko's lips were incredibly soft against mine. I could have stayed in that position, locked in with her, forever. But the need for air was too great, and I don't think it's good for my lungs, considering I just came back from the dead.

Reluctantly, I let go. Our eyes locked for a moment, then Sazuko looked away, blushing. I'm sure I was blushing too, but I didn't care about that. I gently grabbed her shoulder, and propped myself up into a sitting position against the couch. Sazuko sat down next to me, holding my hand tightly, as if I was going to run away if she let go.

Then I noticed Ryu, holding a camera in his hands.

"Damn you, Ryu!" Sazuko growled, and proceeded to attempt to grab it away from him. When she stood up, she winced slightly. That when I noticed the scars on her face and arms again. I remember seeing them before fainting.

I gently, yet firmly, grabbed her wrist to pull her down. "Don't."

She gave me an angry glare, then sighed. "Fine. But that's only because you practically just died." She huffed and sat down again.

I raised a nonexistent eyebrow at her. "Why didn't you get those scratches treated?"

Sazuko rolled her eyes. "Because I was so worried about you! In comparison to your wounds, mine were fine. Yours were practically death wounds."

I glared weakly back. "You should see the state you're in." I sighed and stood up, then took her to the restroom. There was a mirror there, so she could see perfectly well the state she was in.

"See?" I said pointedly. "You're covered in blood. The least you can do is go an take a shower. Patch these cuts up." I really hope she wouldn't argue with me.

Sazuko sighed. "Fine, but please don't die when I'm in the shower. Cause I'm not going to run out, half-naked, to save your sorry ass again." She floated up the stairs, taking care not to spill blood on the steps.

When I could hear water running, I slammed onto the couch. So tired...if only I could sleep...

"Go ahead, I'll make sure that Shukaku doesn't come out." Ryu sat down on the ground. I was surprised for a few moments, then remembered that he could read thoughts.

I nodded gratefully, trusting him with my, and a bunch of other people's, lives. Amazing what a few months could do to someone, eh? Before I went to Konoha High, no one cared about me. Now, I have people that care for my existance...love me...

Ryu POV

Temari appeared a couple minutes after Gaara crashed. Her eyes were wide and frantic, then dashed over to me when she saw Gaara.

"Is he-?" she asked immediately. _...dead?_

I shook my head. "No, he's not. He's just asleep."

Now Temari looked even more worried. "But I thought...Shukaku..."

I grinned. "He's fine. Shukaku probably won't come out after an epic battle like that..." I hope I sounded more sure than I felt.

Temari sighed gratefully. "Kankuro told me some of what happened. He said that Gaara and Sazuko got into a fight, and Shukaku came out. They both had pretty bad wounds."

I nodded. "That's the short version of it."

Temari sat down, next to me. "I'm glad that you and Sazuko are here to care for Gaara. When he was small, he used to get sick a lot. He never was really strong when he was a child, but as soon as he went to school, that all seemed to change. He suddenly got a bunch of referals, teacher warnings, most of them for fighting. And he was a legend throughout the neighborhood."

When did I ask for Gaara's history, I wanted to ask. But this sounded like a pretty good chance to know more about Gaara. "Why?" I asked simply.

"Well, see, he was really good at fighting. Like, as a natural talent. He was almost never wounded; it seemed as if a spirit was protecting him. That's why he was accused of starting the fights. But sometimes, Kankuro and I could see that it wasn't him that started these fights. It was usually gang members, or someone trying to preserve his reputation. But Gaara could take them all on and win. That's why he was feared." Temari sighed. "I really hope he's changed now."

I nodded carefully. I don't like the way the conversation was going. But Gaara has changed, it's Shukaku's fault now. Shukaku's starting all these fights, not Gaara. But they could easily be mistaken for each other. Unless Gaara goes into "perfect possesion form" or something like that.

"Where's Kankuro and Sakura?" Temari asked lightly, changing the topic.

"They left after making sure that Gaara and Sazuko were fine. I think they're over at Sakura's house." I shrugged. "So how are you and Shikamaru getting along? Is he a good teacher?"

I think I caught sight of Temari blushing a bit, or maybe I imagined it. "He's good, but sometimes, he falls asleep. Other times he uses really advanced vocabulary so much that I can understand about half of what he's saying." Temari rolled her eyes. "But I think I can fight better nowadays, with a secret weapon up my sleeve." She grinned evilly.

I nodded. "That's great. Just don't go starting fights, we can't have Sakura or Ino treat everyone that you beat up."

Temari laughed. "That's true. Oh yeah, so Gaara has to make up his assessment, right? Ms. Tsunade wants to know when he can make it up." She thought for a few seconds, then added, "She told us that sign-ups are starting next week. Like, sign up for the preliminaries next month."

"Really?" I asked eagerly. "Did say that I can participate this year?" A couple years back, I was still at that school. The year after that, I moved, but Mr. Sarutobi still allowed me to participate. Now that Ms. Tsunade's principal, I'm not sure how it goes.

"I don't think she mentioned you..." Temari replied quietly. "Sorry."

"That's alright. It'll be safer for me." I shuddered. "Sometimes, people die in this competition. Last year, Sasuke killed everyone he went up against."

Temari's eyes widened. "And it's allowed?"

I shrugged. "I'm not sure, but I think all the parents know about it. But most of the parents wouldn't let their children come. Naruto and Sazuko don't have parents, so that's why they were allowed." My gaze turned dark. "Finding out what skill you have inside of you is costly. But some people risk it."

Temari nodded hesitantly and turned back to Gaara. I did so too, searching for any sign of Shukaku's appearance, taking care not to doze off.

* * *

Sazuko POV

I sat there in the shower, letting the cold water wash over my scars and bruises, occasionally shivering.

Why did I kiss Gaara? That question kept coming back to me. It's true, I do like him a lot. And I know that he likes me, too. But why did it feel so wrong? It was as if I had violated him, kissing him without permission. But that's stupid, since he kissed me back.

I shook my head in frustration, and concentrated on wiping blood away. Stupid cuts kept stinging.

I sat in the shower tub thingy for roughly ten minutes, then decided that I should come out. I crawled out of the bathtub, shivering. I really should stop taking cold baths in the middle of winter.

When I stepped out, fully clothed, I saw Gaara waiting for me.

"Hey," I said casually, raising an eyebrow. "Shouldn't you be resting or something?"

He shook his head. "I slept for a few minutes. Ryu was watching, to make sure that Shukaku doesn't come out," he added when I opened my mouth to speak. "I think Shukaku's afraid of you, he's not so feisty anymore," Gaara continued in a light tone.

I smirked, jubilant that I could actually scare a demon. Yay me! Then I realized that Gaara and I had ran out of things to say and were just staring at each other like idiots.

Uh...awkward?

**Okay I'm going to be rewriting everything now -_- Cuz I thin****k the previous chapters were immature, or just waaaaaay to serious. So I probably won't have any new chapters out for a while.**

***10/24/11: I lied, I'm not rewriting  
**

**Review! ****Or not. But please do. Or I'll find you and kill you in your sleep...**

**(hahah just kidding)**


	45. Chapter 44

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

**Felt like it was time to start updating this fic again...I was THIS CLOSE to deleting it off the map. THIS CLOSE! *holds up fingers, squints eyes* But then, a nice trip to Knott's with my friends gave me the idea for the next chapter, so I need something leading up to it! So thanks, friends! (not gonna say their names~)  
**

Gaara POV

With that, the two of us were just staring at each other awkwardly.

_Hey, Ryu, if you can hear my thoughts, how about a little help right now? _

A few seconds later, his reply came. **_Ask her out._**

_What the hell? I can't do that!_

_**But she wants you to!**_

**Mind if I come in?** Now it was Shukaku, forcing its way into this mind conversation.

_Yes, I do mind. Now go back to your cage, Shukaku. _I erected a steel barrier between the two of us. A whimper was heard from the other side.

**I swear I won't do anything bad!**

_No. Shut up, and go away._

**_Hahaha...he's in you, ya know. He can't go anywhere.  
_**

I just realized that Sazu was still staring at me. "Um...okay then, I guess..." She turned around and prepared to leave back downstairs.

**_Now, Gaara! Now's your chance! Ask her out!  
_**

_...nah. I don't need to now. I'll ask her later..._

I followed Sazuko down the stairs, and when we arrived at the bottom, we went our separate paths. Sazuko headed to the kitchen, probably looking for something to eat.

"Hello Temari," I greeted casually with a slight nod in her direction. Ryu was sitting next to her, pissed, and pretending to shoot himself in the head. I couldn't help but let a small smile slip at his reaction. As soon as my lips turned upwards, Temari's eyes flashed.

"Gaara, you idiot!" Ryu practically screeched. "That was the PERFECT chance!"

I rolled my eyes. "Shut up. I'll ask when I want to. After all, it was just a slight kiss," I added nonchalantly.

Sazuko POV

"After all, it was just a slight kiss."

My eyes widened, and I could feel time freeze. Just a slight kiss? Is that how he viewed it? Just a kiss? I wanted to scream at that idiot right now. Stupid asstard has no emotions! Doesn't he know what a kiss means?

"Just a kiss?" Temari's enraged voice echoed my thoughts. "Gaara, you are horribly wrong about that! If a girl kisses you, that means she loves you! She wants to be with you! She-"

"-can hear you right now." I strode into the room, and gave everyone there a cold glare, Gaara included. "Thank you guys ever so much for talking behind my back." My first thought was to run away, to be anywhere but here. But what good will that do?

Ryu POV

I could sense Sazuko's thoughts in turmoil right now. Her thoughts were just bounding around in there, unchecked, loud, and most of all, filled with an intent to kill. I swear, my head was about to split open. I could feel her need to run away from here. To be somewhere else. To run around and just exhaust her frustration. Her frustration that, after all these months, Gaara didn't care for her.

She didn't know how wrong she was.

The redhead's thoughts were in equal confusion. His thoughts were filled with sorrow, confusion, and plotting. Trying to find a way to apologize. Trying to ask Sazuko what was wrong, since he didn't understand what he did that made her glare like that.

Trying to tell her the truth.

**Yeah, this chapter is WAY too short. I know that. But I have the next chapter all in my head! *points at head* I will try to upload the next chap ASAP! (which means a few weeks in my language)**

**Review!**


	46. Chapter 45

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

**Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Sorry for short chap...  
**

Temari POV

I just don't get Gaara sometimes! Well, I never understood him, but this time, it's so much more. It's not just him, it's also Sazuko's feelings. A girl can be sensitive to such things...

"Sazuko, I'm sorry you had to over hear that," I said gently. Bunching up my leg muscles, I stood up and said, "Why don't Sazu and I take a walk? Ryu, you can sort out Gaara's problems." I half-expected Gaara to kill me for saying that. But he didn't. He just accepted it calmly, which was NOT the Gaara I knew. I seriously don't know him at all. Even Kankuro is easier to understand!

I gently took Sazuko's wrist and led her out the door. As soon as I closed the door after her, I could feel her sadness ten times greater.

"Sazuko, don't let what Gaara said get to you." I started walking to Shikamaru's house. He was one of my best friends here, and I was sure that, being the intellectual he was, he could help Sazuko. "Gaara's just inexperienced in these kind of stuff."

"Really?" Sazuko's voice was cold. "Is he now? Then I am so glad I wasted my first kiss on him." Her strides became longer and faster. I started walking faster to match her speed. Soon, both of us were running, still headed for Shikamaru's house.

"Sazu...Gaara loves...you. He just...doesn't know...how to express...it," I panted out while still jogging.

"I hope so." Sazuko's voice was sad all of a sudden. "I...like him too."

I smiled to myself. There was the confession I was waiting for. I just hoped that Ryu had the same luck.

Ryu POV

"Gaara, man, you messed up big time!" I cried, frustrated. "You just don't say that to a girl!"

Gaara stared back at me indifferently, his pale green eyes blank. "Why not?"

"Well, you see, girls are just sensitive to these things. They put hidden meanings into something we'd just take at face value." I put my hands behind my head, looking up at the ceiling. "That's why we need to watch what we say. It's like setting off a ticking time bomb."

Temari POV

"Sorry for dropping by like this, Shikamaru," I said as soon as he opened the door. "We just to chill at your place."

Shikamaru nodded knowingly. "Gaara troubles?" he asked Sazuko directly.

"You could say that..." She took her shoes off and immediately plopped onto his sofa, her wrapping her knees close to her chest. She looked so vulnerable right now...

**Sorry this one was REALLY short. Idea's just aren't coming to my head right now.**


	47. Chapter 46

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

Sazuko POV

Almost immediately after my ass lands on the sofa, the phone rings. Shikamaru goes over to pick it up, and apparently, it's for me, from Gaara. I couldn't evade him forever, so I walked over and picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

**"I'm sorry about what I said, I didn't know you'd take it that way," **he said instantly.

"That's great..."

**"So I was wondering..."** He paused for dramatic effect.

"Hm?" My curiousity was piqued.

**"Would you...like to go out with me?" **I could hear his voice cracking from nervousness.

"Why not?" I grinned to myself. "When?"

**"Um...****"** He went offline for a few seconds, then comes back. **"How about tomorrow afternoon?"**

Tomorrow was a Friday. "Right after school?"

**"Yeah."**

"Sure." My voice lighted up. This would be my first date. "Hey, wait a sec, how did you know that I was here?"

**"Ryu said that Temari would probably go to Shikamaru's place."**

I sneak a glance at the blonde girl, to find that she was chatting happily with Shikamaru.

"Well, your sister's found her soul mate, that for sure. Tell Ryu that he's a smartass for guessing where I was." I can hear laughing on the other end. "Thanks for calling, Gaara. I'm glad to know that you weren't just being a jackass on purpose."

**"Mm...I'm sorry I hurt your feelings."**

"It's alright...not really." I laughed to show that I wasn't being serious. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow at school then. Tell Hirako that I'm not coming back home, and tell Ryu to take care of her, and tell him to tell his parents that he's not going to be home, and tell Hirako that Mitsuchi can stay over tonight."

**"Yeah, yeah."** I could tell Ryu got onto the line because the voice and attitude suddenly changed. **"Will do, cap'ain."**

I laughed again, then hung up on him.

"I'm assuming, by your attitude, that everything went well?" Temari came over to me and smiled.

"Yup." I grinned. "Hey, Shika, can I stay over tonight?"

"Hm? Yeah, sure..."

**Another short chapter, but, this update was sooner ^_^**


	48. Chapter 47

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

**I realized, after 48 chapters, that I've been writing this story based on pure fangirl-ism, and I don't have an avid idea whatsoever. -_- This is making me want to end this story NOW, or just put it on hold or something. Just saying, if anyone wants to write this for me, you're welcome to!**

**Alright, so I was going to make them go to Knott's for a date, but then I decided, after school's over, they only have about 4 hours. If it takes an hour to get there and an hour back...then they'd only get to spend two hours there, and they wouldn't be able to go on all the rides and stuff, so I decided a simple movie would be better.**

**On a totally unrelated topic, Merry Christmas to y'all! And Kwanza, Hanukkah, or whatever holiday you celebrate!  
**

**And on another totally unrelated topic, I realized that it's been a month before I knew it...  
**

Sazuko POV

"Hey, Gaara!" I greeted him from Shikamaru's car. His parents arrived home late last night, and they let Temari and me sleep over. We went to school in his parent's car too; his house was farther away from the school than mine.

"Thanks for the ride, Mrs. Nara!" I remembered to call before closing the car door.

I walked quickly to the school, Gaara at my side, giving Temari and Shika some time to be alone. What a devil I am, pairing them up like that. Maybe I should make the date I'm having a double date...with me, Gaara, Temari, and Shikamaru.

"How was my house? Didya like it?" I asked Gaara cheerfully.

"That wasn't the first time I stayed over at your house, you know," his disapproving tone reminded me.

"I know, but that was the first time I wasn't there, right? Oh yeah, did Ryu stay over too?"

Gaara shrugged slightly. "He stayed, but fell asleep. Good thing Shukaku was feeling so bloodthirsty anymore," he added in an undertone, lowering his head a bit. He was a couple inches taller than me, but then again, most people were taller than me.

"So how's Shukaku right now?" I replied in the same tone of voice.

"He's...quiet. It's almost as if he's calm now. But I'm sure he'll start bothering me later."

* * *

"I can't believe how quickly that rumor spread," I complained. School was over, and Gaara just arrived at the school gates. "Why does everyone think that we're together now?" A couple people who were within earshot quickly started mumbling about what I just said.

"Maybe because you're so loud?" he replied teasingly. "I'm surprised it's still a rumor at the end of the day. Knowing Temari, she'd've told everyone." He reached over and gently took my hand. I was surprised by this show of affection, because, well, Gaara really wasn't one to reveal his emotions easily.

I nodded slowly to his response. I didn't really know what he was talking about, but that's okay, because we're going on a date! Bunnies were jumping around in my head, excited at the prospect of having my first double date (well it's my first date anyways...). I still couldn't believe that head-strong Temari and lazy Shikamaru actually agreed to it. They made an odd pair, Temari being so reckless and Shikamaru so...not reckless, I guess. But they both have good brains, so I hoped they could have a smooth relationship.

"Hey, there's Temari!" I suddenly yelled, pointing at a sandy blonde, who was walking with a slightly taller brunette. "And that's Shikamaru."

Gaara nodded. "I'm taking it they said yes?"

"Yup!" I turned my attention away from him and ran over to Temari. "You ready?"

She gave me a weak glare, while Shikamaru escaped to talk with Gaara. "Tell me again why I'm agreeing to this?"

"Because I know you like Shika, and you love us all." I gave her my winning smile.

Temari sighed. "I think I liked you better when you were quiet."

I rolled my eyes. Yes, I kept up my facade of being a silent, innocent girl during school. No one, except for my friends, knew what I was like when I was alone with people I trusted - loud, violent, and swearing my head off.

"Come on, Temari, let's go!" I whined. "We only have half a day!" I half-dragged her over to where Shika and Gaara were conversing slightly. Well, more like they were just standing there, not doing anything. But I knew Shikamaru was staring aimlessly at people walking by, and Gaara's just...being himself. Putting on a blank glare, but in reality, noticing every little detail of the environment and the people around him.

"Can we go now?" I pleaded Gaara. "Oh yeah, and where are we going anyways?" We started heading outside the school.

He shrugged, and answered easily, "Movie?"

I grinned. "What movie are we watching? Bloody? Humor?"

He gave a glance at Temari and Shika. "I was thinking horror."

I paled slightly at that; I didn't really like horror movies. Action, yes. Humor, yes. Romance, slightly. Although I don't seem like it, I do enjoy bloody movies as well. Those kinds of movies were almost like training for the school wars (AN: thought I'd forget 'bout that?), and it was a good way to pick up ambush tactics, fighting styles, etc.

But horror...I shuddered, and Gaara gave me a curious look. I shrugged it off, then replied to his suggestion, "Horror'd be nice." I tried to look happy at the thought, but I think it failed terribly, because Temari came in to my rescue.

"How about sci-fi?" she suggested.

"Sci-fi horror?" Shikamaru compromised. "That'd work for all of us, right?"

I nodded, pretending to be eager. In truth, I didn't mind sci-fi, but it was the horror part that got to me. I bet I'd be holding onto Gaara the whole time, and squeezing my eyes shut.

* * *

"Four tickets for _Sign_ please!"

We finally arrived at the movie theater, and now we were getting our tickets for _Sign_. The movie was about aliens coming to Earth and leaving these marks or something. It sounded cool, and I had heard somewhere that the main character was also the actor for the main character of _The Patriot. _I had enjoyed that movie, and I hoped that _Sign_ was half as good as that one.

"The movie doesn't start until 5:30," Temari reported, coming back to where we, Gaara, Shikamaru, and me, were sitting.

"I think it's almost five right now," I informed. "Should we just go in and hang out in there? It's kinda chilly outside."

"Why not?" Temari lead us into the movie theater, where they had games like pinball, foosball, driving cars, etc.

"Wanna play?" I grinned wickedly at my friends, pointing at a foosball table.

Temari grinned equally wickedly back. "You're on."

**I'm gonna be separating this into two parts, because it was a bit long to fit into one :) I think XD I'm probably gonna exclude a lot later on, so don't be surprised if it's shorter than you expect.**

**Can I have some reviews? I'd like to know who's still reading this story...**

**Oh yes, thank you to all my readers who have stuck with me for nearly 50 chapters... Muchas Gracias to those who reviewed for nearly every chapter! I love you guys!  
**


	49. Chapter 48

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

**Y'all have my permission to stab me for my lousy update. One plastic knife each. Throw well. *raises arms high up***

**My excuses are at the end of this super short chapter. Really really really really really REALLY sorry!  
**

**On a side note, I have a poll on my profile! This is my first one so I'm not sure if I did it right...but please vote! :D**

**Hm, I'll have to skip the movie...I don't remember it :P  
**

Temari POV

After the foosball match (which I barely won, 9-8), _Sign_ was almost starting. I wasn't really eager to watch it, since I didn't really enjoy horror movies, but well, if Gaara and Shika wanted to watch it...Shikamaru's probably going to sleep the whole thing through. I could tell Sazuko didn't exactly want to watch it either.

A few minutes after we found our seats in the back of the theater, the advertisements started. Sazuko had bought some popcorn, and we were all munching on it, except for Shika, who was sleeping. Expected? Definitely.

The opening credits rolled out. Ooh, a dog!

* * *

Sazuko POV

"That was a creepy movie..." I muttered out. I swear, I had to turn away at all the alien scenes. So, in the end, I still don't know what the aliens look like! And I had to hold onto Gaara like I was going to die, which, in my mind, I was.

"It was alright," Gaara argued back. "It was suspenseful with a lot of deaths."

I gave him a glare. "Was that the only part you found amusing?" I growled humorously. However, in a dark crevice in my mind, I was worried that Shukaku was beginning to make a mark on Gaara.

**Sorry for the super short chapter and super long wait...my excuses are this:**

**1. I was busy studying for Science Olympiad, because try-outs for the events were coming up. Needless to say, I failed all of them.**

**2. You know about writers' block? Ugh.  
**

**3. I'm starting four new long-term fanfics...ehehehe. Christmas with the Akatsukis, My Personal Demons, and some other stories that I don't have titles for yet... CWTA is up, the others are still in progess...**

**4. I'm busy with my one-shots. I have two so far... I'm only done with a little bit of one of them!**

**5. ...too busy reading fanfics. Ahahaha...Don't glare at me like that!**

**6. Real life takes its toll... Computers don't last forever. Now, it restarts itself every few hours...never a good thing.**

**7. Try-outs for Academic Olympics for orchestra...terrible. I got second place out of two people for the category I was competing in. Imagine my joy.  
**

**8. I was too busy thinking about what to do AFTER this little scene that I forgot that I didn't do this scene yet!**

**9. Last but not least...the most important reason...**

**...I kinda forgot about it...ehehehehe...**

**I PROMISE PROMISE PROMISE TO MAKE THE NEXT CHAPTER BETTER! (cries in a corner)**

**I will try my best to get the next chapter out quicker... and longer, of course.  
**


	50. Chapter 49

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

**See? I updated early! I hope this makes up for my last lousy update...**

**And now for the thank you's!  
**

**A big thanks to everyone who's stuck with me so far! I know I'm lousy with my updates...ehehehe... But I'm just very very very thankful that people are still reading this! I'd name all you guys out, but I'm short on time (as usual; I need to go study for future science test), so I just wanted to thank all you guys for stickin' with me all this time! Love you all! Many many thanks to madin456, deedeex912, Joanna Davis, Echo Uchiha, Animelover1112, and more! (That's all the people I remember...too lazy to find all of them, so sorry if I missed you! [which I probably did... TAT])  
**

**PS. The story's not ending yet! This is only the end of part one! (that was a split-second decision XD I just decided to do that, because I thought this would be a good closing chapter)**

**Oh yeah, if you guys don't like SasuNaru, I'm sorry, but that's happening. Please don't flame about SasuNaru! *cowers in fright*  
**

Sazuko POV

After the movie, we went our separate ways (me to my house, Gaara and Temari to theirs, and Shikamaru to his). While I walked home, I couldn't help but feel a small sense of happiness. Probably because I had felt something that I lacked for years. Love, from someone that wasn't Ryu. I mean, Ryu is a good guy. I like him, but only as brother and sister. And the Akatsuki gang...they were miles away. It had been years since they had called me (not counting the visit a few months ago).

I sighed. Depressing thoughts will get me nowhere...

Before I realized it, I had walked home. I reached for the knob and turned it, then remembered that I didn't unlock the door yet. I cursed, took the keys out, and unlocked it, then walked it.

"Hey, Hirako, where are you?" I called out loudly.

"Kitchen!" my sister hollered back. "I was hungry so I started making dinner!"

That wasn't a surprise to me. My cooking skills were average at best, so cooking was usually done by Hirako, even if she is younger than me by a few years.

I headed into the kitchen, to find her and her friend making dinner together. "Oh, she's here again?" The question wasn't out of dislike. I mean, I liked Mitsuchi. She kept Hirako in line, made sure that she didn't get in trouble with the authorities, because her streak of playfulness sometimes got her into trouble. Like the time she wanted to have a campfire at home, so she lit some sticks on fire. Inside the house. Needless to say, that little flame turned into something huge. That was before I found out about my powers, so I had to grab some sink water and throw it at the flare. Good thing it didn't burn the house down. Otherwise, Hirako would've ended up with more than a little bruise for a week. And I emphasize little.

"We're having pasta for dinner," Mitsuchi explained quietly. If Hirako could be described as fire, then Mitsuchi would be water. Dousing the fire, but occasionally urging it on. Mitsuchi was like me when I'm at school, quiet, calm, and slightly geeky. But I was like Hirako when I was at home, wild, ferocious, and humorous, with a slight air of gangsty-ness. Must be the Akatsuki rubbing off on me...

"Mmm, that'd be nice," I replied, half my mind on the date that I just had with Gaara. He could be really sweet when he wanted to, I guess. Or maybe it's just my brain, telling me that whatever he does is sweet. Argh. My brain is fooling my heart, messing with my emotions! Not a good thing...because I needed my heart to make decisions, and my brain to follow the decisions. My brain won't follow the decisions my heart makes if it's tricking the heart!

...now I'm just confused.

See what happens when the brain is against the heart? Note to self: Never let that happen again!

* * *

_MAJOR TIME SKIP COMING YOUR WAY  
_

Months after that first date I had with Gaara, life went by relatively normal. We talked often, had lots of small kisses, occasional make-out sessions (but we don't go all the way yet, and Ms. Tsunade's pretty against public shows of affection [people still do "stuff" in locked classrooms though...]), and had lots of time together. Shukaku was restless (as usual) and it turned out that Gaara was leaving every few weeks to let Shukaku have a kill. Thankfully, Gaara and I were able to persuade Shukaku to not prey on humans as much as small animals. The demon agreed, but only if he could kill more often, which Gaara and I grudgingly agreed as well.

It seemed that Temari had a "thing" for Shikamaru, but was just too scared to tell him! Ha! If I know Temari, I know that she's bold but kind, head-strong yet soft. But either way, it turned out that Shikamaru was actually the one to ask her out, courtesy of some _minor_ influence by yours truly, and Choji. Right now, their relationship is going strong, but not as well as Gaara and mine!

And Kankuro and Sakura... Their relationship has been the longest so far, longer than both Gaara's and Temari's. I think Sakura's pretty good with him, it's like pink complimenting brown. I'm not sure how far they've went, but I don't think Sakura's pregnant yet, so that's a good thing. We go on double dates a lot, or triple if we add in Temari. But she's usually busy or something.

Sasuke managed to convince his followers (remember them? like, in chap5 or something?) that he had a sudden change of heart. Amazingly, they believed him. Guess they really were just mindless pawns. Especially Karin. But not Suigetsu...he was more than just a tool for Sasuke's benefit. Suigetsu and I are good terms right now, after I revealed to him the truth.

And the truth was, Sasuke was in a relationship with Naruto! Who'd've guessed? But apparently, Sasuke's been getting into fights with Naruto only because he wanted his attention. And Naruto was fine with the relationship, and I think he's grown to love Sasuke back. I have nothing against gays or gay relationships and all that, and I don't think all my other friends do either. So I hope they have a long relationship!

Oh yeah, and somehow, I managed to grow out of being shy and quiet at school. I'm bolder now (or so I hope...), but not nearly as loud or crazy as I am at home with Ryu.

Speaking of Ryu, he's joined an orchestra! Now, he goes off with them and performs concerts at far away places, so I have to learn to live without his calmness. It's sad for me, but good for Ryu because apparently, his audition was really really good and now he's first chair viola! I'm proud of him, but I'm going to be lonely... Especially because he doesn't have time for street side concerts now.

But all in all, life over the past few months has been good. But now comes the real trouble...

...the school wars.

**Dun dun dun! The next half will be all about school wars... It's going to kinda be like the chunin exams, except with twists! *wink***

**Can I have some reviews? I'll take suggestions for pairings!**


	51. Chapter 50

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

**Okay, so right now, it should be about March/April kinda setting.**

**And I'm sorry for not updating earlier! I had lots of tests and work... Since I'm starting high school next year, I'm probably not going to update as often now... Registration sucks donkey balls! :( And yes, I know, I rarely update as it is... Well, you guys'll just have to get used to it, I guess... I'm not sure how much I can update from June to September (summer break), so we'll see in a few months...  
**

Sazuko POV

Snow and rain are nice. But not the mud in the morning that's a result of it.

"Stupid...damn...mud...," I cursed under my breath, shaking the wet dirt off of my combat boots, taking care not to get it onto my black jeans. Walking to school after a rain shower sucks. Especially when you're going to be fighting like hell to survive at school.

Long story short, today we start eliminating people for the school wars. And sometimes, the losers do die.

After trudging through the mud and finally arriving at the school, I met Gaara in front of the gate. We don't walk to school together any more, since after the first few weeks, people started asking questions that neither of us wanted to answer. So we just meet in front of the school gate now, but we sometimes walk home together (He still comes over occasionally).

"Hey," I called out in greeting. He nodded back in reply. "How's Shukaku today?"

"Fine," he said curtly. "He's still kind of twitchy, but he doesn't seem to want to come out so much now. He hasn't come out since February."

I nodded in approval. "Good." I reached over and gave him a quick peck on the cheek, instantly causing him to turn a light shade of red. For some reason, he still hasn't gotten over me kissing him yet.

As soon as we went into the school gates, I caught a quick peek of Sasuke and Naruto in a heavy make-out session against the lockers, Sasuke pressing Naruto back. Now it was my face to turn red, but for a different reason, obviously. At least Naruto accepts Sasuke's affection. I couldn't say the same for Tenten. All of us knew that Neji likes her, and she likes him back, but for some reason, she keeps denying it. How could a girl so talented in martial arts be so blind to love? My goal for the last half of this year was to get them together.

"Is something wrong?" Gaara's deep rumble snapped me out of my thoughts.

"N-no..." I stuttered out. Catching Gaara's skeptical glance, I sighed and explained, "I just saw Sasuke and Naruto making out. Against the lockers. And Sasuke's hand was in a pretty inappropriate place. And school is starting in less than three minutes."

The redhead seemed to get where I was going with my train of thought, because he said, "Oh," and left it at that. A sheet of silence covered us for the next minutes as we went to our lockers to get the necessary items for our classes.

"Let's just hope they make it to Art on time." I sighed.

* * *

My hopes were in vain. They didn't make it to first period, nor second. They came to third period (well, only Naruto, since I had third period with him) in the last few minutes.

"I'm...sorry... I was...busy," Naruto panted out as he came to class. His cheeks were flushed and his hair was a mess. Luckily, his clothes were clean and not _that_ ruffled.

"Get your notes from your classmates after class. Make sure this doesn't happen again," came the sharp, clipped voice of Mr. Yamato. I heard a couple of snickers from his friends, Kiba and Sakura, since they could assume what Naruto had been going through the last hour or so. Let's just say that the blond now knows the janitor's closet fairly well.

Since class was almost over, all three of us packed our stuff and walked over to the still blushing blond.

"How was it?" Sakura asked eagerly. Even though she was in a relationship with Kankuro, she still had a strong bond with Naruto. And, what girl could reject yaoi?

"S-Sakura!" Naruto stuttered. "Not now!"

"Why not? I'm curious too!" I urged.

Kiba nodded in agreement. "C'mon, blondie, spill it! We want details! Who was bottom?"

Naruto gave us all a glare before finally replying, "I was bottom this time...but that Sasuke better watch out for tomorrow!" His reply rose in sound, thus causing a few yaoi fangirls around us to start squealing. I could've sworn I heard the words "video record" echo a couple times.

I sighed. Much as I love the blond knucklehead, he really didn't know when he should shut up and listen, and when he can yell. This was one of the times he should've kept his voice down.

Luckily, the bell rang, saving the blond from a torrent of questions that would have attacked him.

* * *

Lunchtime.

Sure, it was just lunchtime, nothing big. It happened every day, 180 days a school year.

But today, it was the announcements of who made the cut, as well as the match-ups. Last year, I had to go against Suigetsu the first round. I didn't know him that well, so I had nothing against beating him up. But this year, I have more friends. If I get paired against one of them...

"Alright, brats, listen up!"

...there went Ms. Tsunade. Always loud and rude.

Everyone at my friends' and my lunch table turned around to pay attention. Ms. Tsunade never really like this event, but it was a tradition at our school, so what can we do about it? Besides, most people enjoy doing this anyways.

"You know what day it is, so I'm just going to cut the chase. We're going to do things a bit differently this year... I'm not going to tell you who made it! You'll just have to know one day prior, when I announce the match-ups..." She broke off to start laughing manically, accompanied by complaints by some of the students closer to her. Even from so far, I could tell she's drunk.

"Is she always this drunk?" Gaara muttered from my right. His warm breath on my ear caused me to shiver a bit.

"Usually. Now shut up, let me listen." I took the sting out of my words by giving him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Tomorrow's first battle... Neji versus Tenten!"

***le gasp* What's going to happen? How's Sazuko going to get Neji and Tenten together? What will happen?**

**Oh, and send in some OC's for the school war! With descriptions, or I'll just use the name you give :P**

**Reviews would be honored and worshipped for the next month...  
**


	52. Chapter 51

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

**Kyah! So many reviews from all you awesome people! I'm sorry for not updating sooner; I was kinda out of the writing mood :P But thank you all so much! **

**Excuses are in "The Unknown Sibling"'s most recent chapter.**

**Anyways, so…**

**Sasuke and Naruto might be a bit OOC, and I feel like I focused too much on SasuNaru this chapter… But I like it when Sasuke gets overprotective, so… Well, I'm pretty sure that this'll be the last SasuNaru-centric chapter… So sorry if you guys don't like SasuNaru! :P**

**And to "Dawnfire": You're the first person who guessed that :P I bet everyone just had that though lurking in the back of their heads… You know me too well! *laughs* *glomps* You must come over here one day… How about next week? :D It's summer break~**

Sazuko POV

The moment Gaara and I stepped into first period the next day, all hell broke loose. Not about us, but about Naruto and Sasuke. And since Naruto was the first one here, well, I'm sure it's kind of obvious what would happen… Yup, Naruto was the poor target of all the fangirls…

"Did you guys do it?"

"How was he, Naruto? Was Sasuke good?"

"Who bottomed? I bet it was you, Naruto!"

"You guys were loud! Everyone in my class could hear you guys!"

"Are you guys doing it again today?"

At that last comment, Naruto turned a bright shade of red. "N-no! Stop asking these questions!" he screamed and ran out of the classroom, only to bump into Sasuke.

"Sasuke! Help me!" Naruto pleaded. "There are crazy hormonal teenagers after me!" He gripped the raven so tightly; it looked as if those two were glued together.

As soon as Naruto finished bawling in Sasuke's chest, the black haired senior glared at everyone. "Stay away from _my_ Naruto." And they both disappeared out the classroom… with an army of fangirls chasing after them, screaming and grabbing video cameras.

"Great," I muttered. "What now?" I scooted a bit closer to Gaara, since all the guys were giving me the 'weird-eye' because I didn't follow the rest of the girls out the door.

Suddenly, the announcement system decided to make itself known, saving me from the why-isn't-she-normal/crazy look.

"BRATS! Get yourselves to the stage in the middle of the school! You guys have two minutes!" Ms. Tsunade's voice rang through the class from the announcements.

Within seconds, everyone that didn't chase after Sasuke and Naruto evacuated the art building, no one wanting to face Ms. Tsunade's wrath, with Gaara and me included.

Once I got outside, I started looking for familiar faces. With all the chairs in the way, it was very difficult to find anyone.

"Temari!" I called out, once I spotted the blonde, who looking for Shikamaru. "Over here!"

She turned around, caught my eye, and waved me off to sit next to Shikamaru. She grinned shyly in apology and turned around and started talking to her boyfriend.

"I see how it is," I grumbled to Gaara.

"Me too. But two can play at that game…" The redhead pulled me closer, since there was a giant wave of students rushing to get in front of the stage before…

Wait, never mind. That was just Sasuke and Naruto, trying to out-run the fangirls.

"MOVE!" Naruto hollered at the two of us as the stampede drew closer. Without any more warnings from the blond, Gaara and I ran as if the very devil was at our heels.

After all, we all knew how excited fangirls can get.

* * *

"Shame on all of you!" Ms. Tsunade was furious once she found out what happened. When she had arrived at the stage (some fifteen minutes later), most of the students assembled were either knocked out (whether from nosebleeds or the stampede…), on the roof (away from the fangirls), or screaming for blood (actually, they were screaming for Sasuke and Naruto to make out, but it's the same thing in my mind). Therefore, all of us were sentenced to an extra day of school this week, even though it wasn't allowed in the district. But, Ms. Tsunade was different (and crazy), and was fine with breaking some laws.

"Why can't I be the principal of a normal school?" she muttered under her breath.

Everyone sweatdropped.

"It's not our fault, you hag!" Naruto yelled bravely. "If you actually took care of the school once in a while, this wouldn't have happened!"

"Shut up, brat!" Ms. Tsunade snapped back. "It's my school, and I'll rule it the way I want to! Until you become more mature and LEARN one of these days, I might take advice from you! But until then, you keep your mouth shut, brat!"

All the students visibly backed away in fear as she ranted at the tan blond. Surprisingly, instead of cowering in fear, the ramen-lover screamed back.

"The moment I mature is the moment you stop drinking every night! And day!"

Many mutters of, "Ooh, burn," were heard throughout the gathering.

"Definite burn," I mumbled to Gaara.

"But how would he know about that?" Gaara asked curiously. "There must be a reason as to how Naruto knows what Ms. Tsunade does outside of school…"

"She was his care-taker a few years back," I replied casually. "She was like a grandma to him, so they have a pretty strong relationship. I'm sure she still visits him every now and then."

Gaara nodded in acceptance.

Before any of us could do anything, Ms. Tsunade had thrown Naruto across the stage, knocking him out for a while. Thankfully, Sasuke was able to catch him before he landed too harshly. Many students gasped at the principal's display of strength. Not many knew about the fact that Ms. Tsunade learned here too, and found about her own special skill (super-strength) when she was a sophomore.

"Now…" She took out a piece of paper from her pocket and started reading off of it. "If we can get started. This afternoon, the battle between Neji Hyuga and Tenten something-or-other will commence… Everyone is to stay at least 20 feet away, blah blah blah, no interference; medical specialists are to tend to injuries at the end of the fight, etcetera. You guys all understand. If not, ask your friends or something." She finished her speech by crumbling the piece of paper into a ball and throwing it into the nearest trash can with impeccable aim. "Neji and Tenten, you two may take today off. Rest up and get all your emotions out before lunch, and then meet here at the stage at the beginning of the lunch period."

All of a sudden, the two that were named became the center of attention.

"Right," both of them uttered emotionlessly at the same time.

Tenten POV

I felt my insides heat up as everyone left to go to their classes. Soon, it was only Neji, me, and Ms. Tsunade. With a nod in our direction, she left to go back to her office.

Now it was only Neji and me.

"So…" I mumbled quietly, sitting down on a chair. "How are you?"

"I'm fine." Was I imagining it, or was that a hint of a tremor in his voice?

"Anything to say? Famous last words or something?" I asked nervously. I was hoping that he would confess his love to me, since I've had a crush on him for so long. In fact, it's been so long that I think I've fallen in love with him. After all, a crush only lasts for six months. Any longer, and it's love.

But hopefully, everyone else didn't think that I had a crush on the Hyuga. After all, information travels quickly here. Just like Sasuke and Naruto's relationship.

"No…" he replied, giving me a sense of disappointment. "You?"

Yes. "Not really."

We stayed in silence for a while, sitting side by side. Just as I was going to say something, Neji murmured, "Are you tired?"

I glanced up at him, only to see that he was looking straight ahead. "Kind of. Why?"

"We could take a nap before the fight," he mumbled uncertainly. It was very out of character for him to act all nervous, since he usually has such good control of his speech.

"That's fine with me," I replied. I shifted so that I was more comfortable in the chair, when all of a sudden, Neji pulled me closer to him so that my head was resting on his shoulder.

"W-what are you doing?" I stuttered out. I bet my face was flaming red now. After all, it's not every day that your crush holds you like this. However, I didn't fight against his touch.

"Just let me do this…" he answered in that same whispery tone as earlier, as if he was afraid to break the mood that the silence had set. "Is that alright with you?"

"Yeah… I guess." I nuzzled into his neck as he rested his head onto mine. Part of me was telling myself not to get too attached to him; after all, we'd have to fight each other in about five hours. But the other half was telling me to enjoy this while I could; after all, one of us might die in the next 24 hours.

But, as usual, love won over logic. And I tried to sleep as comfortably as I could.

* * *

**You guys better thank me for this *sniffs* I worked hard to get the scene as fluffy(ish) as I could. And the part with Tenten's last name…. Meh, she never gets a last name in the series, so I just made it as if it's supposed to be that way :P Ahahaha… *trails off***

**As always, review! I love reading your feedback when I have nothing to do~**


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